The Unspeakables
by aprilmarie8235
Summary: When Thea, an Unspeakable under strict privacy vows, realizes that her co-workers in the Department of Mysteries are running tests on house-elves to reverse the dais and bring Voldemort back from the dead, she makes the decision to break her vow to the ministry and goes to the Golden Trio and George Weasley for help.
1. Chapter 1: Thea

_May 1, 2000, London Ministry of Magic. _

It was a Monday morning, like any other, when it all started. Thea headed into the love chamber, where she was immediately hit with the scent of amortentia. To her, it smelled of lavender, rain, and a mix of something sweet and salty. It was bubbling merrily in the fountain at the centre of the room as if it was calling to her. The potion was made to smell like whatever attracted a person, though Thea's limited experience with relationships made that difficult to validate one way or another.

Shaking her head, Thea turned away from the fountain to head for her desk in the far corner of the room. She wanted to focus on the results of the brain scans she had done with the head of Cambridge's neuroscience department, Edward Calhoun. As Thea flipped through the pages, she noticed a pattern. Individuals that were either in love or had a child and were thinking about their loved one showed activity in the parts of the brain that usually lit up when exposed to other pleasure-seeking activities or topics. What was more, when she and Calhoun had introduced negative stimuli to deliberately agitate participants (as evident by a first scan), they were able to switch it back to the pleasure-seeking centre by directing conversation around their loved one.

"Hoo!"

Thea started, looking up to see her pygmy owl Oreo sitting there. "Oreo, when did you get here?"

The tiny bird stuck out her leg, and Thea carefully removed the letter, recognizing Jax's untidy scrawl as she did so.

_Thea, _

_Hope you've been well. Africa is amazing as always, but I miss home and you. I'll be making my way back to London-and will probably arrive shortly after you receive my letter. I found a few things that you might be interested in, but I'm mainly writing due to an intriguing owl I received the other day. It was an invitation to an expo-at your department. I thought it a bit odd since you can't talk about what it is you do so what's with the expo? What are you and the other Unspeakables up to?_

That was a good question. Knowing Liam, it couldn't be anything good. Thea set Oreo on her shoulder and headed out of the Love Chamber, relocking the door with a flick of her wand.

The main atrium of the department was deserted, not that she expected it to be otherwise. Thea held out her wand. "Mors revelare."

A door popped open, and Thea moved into a dimly lit, rectangular room and descended steep stone steps toward the other Unspeakables. Liam stood in the centre of the group with his baggy jeans and spiky hair that screamed trying too hard.

As expected, she found them congregated around the stone dais, its black veil swaying eerily in some nonexistent breeze. Thea shivered, before shaking it off and turning toward her boss. "Liam?"

Liam ignored her. "Let's see what she can do. House-elf!" Liam grinned. "Go into the dais, and then apparate back out."

Thea followed Liam's gaze in horror to see a house-elf standing in front of him. Did he really mean to send her through the veil? No one ever came back from that.

"But Zelda doesn't want to..."

"Elf! I ordered you into the dais!" Liam barked out the order for a second time.

"I is not wanting to." But the elf was slammed to the floor by some invisible force that seemed intent on dragging her into the dais, forcing her to obey Liam's command. Zelda grabbed at the floor, but there was nothing to hold onto. It was only her will keeping her from being dragged in completely.

"Liam!" Thea repeated, more urgently this time, but Liam continued to ignore her.

"House-elf, you are bound by your duty to obey your master, and I am your master," said Liam, "so you will go into the dais and then apparate out."

"No please no please no please," the elf pleaded, managing to grab hold of a throw rug to slow the pull to the dais and certain death.

"Liam!" Thea was getting more frantic now. She had to stop this! But how? Short of putting her hands on Liam-which would surely get her fired-she couldn't force him to stop.

Apparently tired of waiting for the house-elf to follow his order, Liam picked her up by her ankles and threw her into the dais. Her screams went silent. She didn't come back out.

Liam shrugged. "I guess house-elves can't come back from the dead." He made a note on his clipboard and turned as if to speak to one of the other Unspeakables, but then he spotted Thea. "Oh, Thea, did you want something?"

"Oh, um..." Thea had been standing there, frozen, staring at the dais. Had he really just...she shook her head. It wasn't as if she had actually thought he had changed. She was pretty sure he wasn't capable of changing. She forced her gaze back to Liam and the entire reason she had ventured out here. "I wanted to ask about the expo."

Liam shook his head. "That's nothing for you to worry your pretty little head about. Just run along back to the love room..."

"Liam, it is something for me to worry about," Thea interrupted him, careful to keep her voice calm and even, despite the frantic beating of her heart. "I am a member of this department, and if you are having an expo, I should not only know about it but be in attendance."

"Fine," said Liam dismissively. "We're raising money- we want to go deeper into our experiments into death, but that requires funding, equipment. If you can find an investor for us, you are more than welcome to join us, but otherwise, you should stick to what suits you." He gestured towards the door, the implication being that she should stick to the love room and leave Liam and the others alone.

Thea sighed. "I'm going to go take a walk." She needed to clear her head. She needed to get out of there.

She didn't wait for Liam's reaction, but headed for the exit, pulling out her wand as she went. Oreo shuffled a bit on her shoulder, and Thea stroked the tiny owl's breast. "Sorry, Oreo," she murmured. "Exitus revelare." One of the doors popped open, and Thea walked through it, turning back to point her wand at the now open door. "Exitus celare." The doors spun again, and Thea headed over to the lifts.

She took a few deep breaths as she waited but nearly jumped out of her skin when the lift clanged to a halt in front of her. Oreo fluffed her feathers but otherwise didn't react. Thea glanced up at the bird, and nearly missed the lift in her distraction.

"Get a grip, Thea," she muttered to herself, stepping inside. It was lighter on the upper levels, but that didn't ease the weight Thea felt over what had happened, nor the fact that she hadn't been able to stop it.

The lift clanged onto the main level, and standing just outside the lift was a slender witch with bushy brown hair, holding pamphlets with a house-elf on the front. Thea had seen the other witch around the ministry, but knew Hermione more by reputation, for her contributions during the war.

"Do you want a pamphlet?" Hermione asked.

Thea blinked at her, her gaze shifting from Hermione's face to the pamphlet and back again. "Sure," she said, accepting one and shoving it into her pocket with Jax's letter. Then she headed outside and disapparated with her owl.


	2. Chapter 2: George

_Weasley Wizard Wheezes, Diagon Alley, London._

As much as George loved his shop, he hated it too. He hated it because everywhere he looked, there was something that reminded him of Fred. Every bit of merchandise, every firework, every ton-tongue toffee...they all reminded George of him and of how they had made them together, how they had run this store together.

George straightened from unpacking boxes and stared out into the shop. Less than three years ago, the shop had boomed with sparks and explosions both of sound and colour; now it was far more drab. The shop was silent and had been for a long time.

"George!"

George cursed under his breath. "Go away!" He called back.

A tiny red-haired witch stepped into the storeroom and rolled her eyes. "Go away?"

George focused on the boxes of extendable ears he was adding to the shelf, avoiding her gaze. "Ginny, I thought you were supposed to be at Quidditch practice."

"Not for a few weeks," said Ginny. "Mum thought that maybe you could use some help down here and since I'm free..."

"I don't," George interrupted her.

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Really? Because it looks like..."

"Ginny!" George said more harshly than he meant to. He sighed and straightened. "Sorry. But seriously, I don't want any help." Especially not now. Not when it was almost the anniversary.

Ginny was quiet for a moment, watching him. "We're worried about you," she said quietly. "You haven't been the same since..."

"Ginny," he said again, this time wearily, as he rubbed his hand over his face. He sighed again. "Look, you can't expect me to be the same. I'm never gonna be the same."

"I know that," Ginny said softly. "Just tell me how I can help."

George gave her a pained look. "You can't." He sighed at her hurt expression. "Look, I'll come by the house this evening for dinner, all right? I'll try, but I need to get this done, and I want to do it myself."

"All right," said Ginny, finally, with a nod. "Let me know if you need anything, okay?" When George nodded, she turned around and headed the rest of the way out, and George got back to the boxes.

He was just getting into a groove in moving items from boxes to shelves when he heard the door jingle out front. "Ginny!" He stomped his way out of the storeroom to head out into the main store. "I thought I told you..." He trailed off.

It wasn't Ginny.

Standing in his store was a tall, slender witch, her dirty blonde hair falling in haphazard sort of curly waves around her shoulders. It was her eyes though that stood out-they were a brilliant blue that matched her blue robes. For a moment, he couldn't look away. Where had he seen those eyes before? "Sorry," he told her, averting his eyes and shoving his hands into the pockets of his robe. "I thought you were my sister coming back to bug me because we _are_ closed."

"No, I'm the one that's sorry." The witch's gaze darted back towards the door for an instant before she turned to focus on George again. "The door was open, and there wasn't a sign..."

"Yeah. Sorry about that." George followed her gaze as she looked over her shoulder again. "Are you all right?"

She turned back toward him. "I'm fine."

George shook his head. "You're about as good of a liar as I am."

"Excuse me?"

George sighed. "My twin died, but my family wants me to be okay, so I tell them I'm fine all the time, even though I'm not. You said you're fine, but you're clearly not either." Normally, he didn't like to talk about Fred-it was like a knife to the chest to even say his name, but for some reason, it felt okay to give this brief mention to her-maybe because it seemed that she was in as much pain as he was.

She blinked at him. "You have a point there," she muttered.

For some reason, he couldn't just dismiss her. "Look, I may be closed," he told her, "but you can come in if you like. I can...get you a cup of tea or something."

The witch looked over her shoulder again, before turning back to George and nodding. She took a few steps deeper into the shop. "All right. Thank you."

"I'm George, by the way." George retrieved a jug of water from the counter and poured its contents into a tea kettle.

"Thea."

"Thea? I like that." He tapped the kettle with his wand, before turning toward her. "You're probably going to think this is really strange, but I swear that I've met you before." He used his wand to send tea leaves floating into two teacups. "How do you take your tea?"

"Plain is fine." Thea looked over her shoulder for a fourth time before focusing on him. "We went to Hogwarts together, so you probably know me from there. We were just in different houses."

That would explain it, but, somehow, he was certain that he was thinking about something else. "Do you want to talk about it?" Because there was clearly something on her mind that had her constantly looking over her shoulder. He poured the hot water into two teacups and handed one of them to her. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to though. Everybody wants to talk when they think you're hurting, and sometimes you just need it to be okay to feel how you feel."

Thea shook her head. "It's not that...it's just...I work for the Department of Mysteries, so I can't talk about anything that goes on at work."

George raised an eyebrow. She was an Unspeakable? Before he really had a chance to ponder that thought, the door jingled at the front of his shop.

"Bloody ice cream!" came Ron's voice, speaking loudly from the doorway. "We're supposed to be Aurors, and instead of taking us seriously, they have us getting ice cream!"

George rolled his eyes. "My brother..." he started to explain to Thea, but she had vanished. Briefly, he wondered how she had managed it-probably a disillusionment spell, which meant she wasn't really invisible, but rather that she had made it so she would blend into her surroundings. The other options were much more far-fetched-invisibility cloaks were rare, and if she had disapparated, he would have heard it. George shook his head and headed out to the main part of the store. "Ron, I already told Ginny that I didn't want any help or any visitors!"

"Nice to see you, too." Standing in the middle of his store, was George's red-haired brother Ron, and his best friend Harry, whose messy black hair hid his famed-lightning shaped scar.

"Hi," said Harry when George looked over at him but wisely said nothing else.

George shook his head again. "I'm busy," he said simply. He hardly wanted to explain to his brother that he had a disillusioned witch hiding in the back of his store and that they had been having tea.

"Right," said Ron. "Busy doing what?" And he headed further into the store.

"Ron, I don't think..."

But Ron ignored Harry as he spotted the teacups. "Do you have company?"

Before George could answer, Ron continued, "You do, don't you?" said Ron, grinning. "Where's she hiding?" He peered toward the backroom.

"Ron, stop it!" said George, trying to block Ron. Thea was already spooked as it was; he didn't need his nosy brother scaring her more.

"We need to get that ice cream anyway," said Harry. George hadn't noticed, but Harry had been moving closer to the outside door and was now opening it, motioning to Ron to follow.

"Oh, right." Ron stopped struggling and turned to shuffle out dejectedly after Harry. After a moment though, he stopped and turned back around to face George with a grin. "But don't think we'll be forgetting about this."

"We just stopped in to say hi, but clearly you're busy." Harry grabbed Ron's arm to pull him out of the shop. "Come on, Ron!"

George shook his head for the third time and headed back to the storeroom, figuring that Thea must have gone there to get away from his brother and Harry. "Thea?" he called. The next thing he knew, she appeared in front of him. Definitely a disillusionment spell. "Something definitely did happen at work, didn't it?" And it was something illegal. Why else would she be hiding from his brother and Harry? She was jumpy as it was, but casting a disillusionment spell just because his brother showed up? That was a little far-fetched. But casting a disillusionment spell because two Aurors-in-training had come into his shop? That made a lot more sense. And if she was hiding from Aurors then she was most definitely in trouble.

"I'm not a criminal if that's what you're thinking."

"I didn't say you were a criminal," George said lightly, although it had been what he was thinking.

"But you are wondering why I was hiding from two Aurors," Thea said softly. She wasn't looking at him, but at her unpolished fingernails. Finally, she spoke: "I'm not a criminal, but my boss is." Then she met his gaze. "I don't think he knows I'm considering breaking my vow and turning him in, but if he does, if he even suspects, I wouldn't put it past him to send Aurors after me on a phoney charge. I know that it was your brother and his friend, but I couldn't be sure that my boss hadn't sent them. It wouldn't be the first time he's misrepresented the facts and gotten away with it."

George looked away, considering. _Misrepresented the facts... phoney charges... _He looked up. "You're Thea Walker, aren't you?"

For a moment, Thea didn't say anything, and she looked at the floor. But then she met his gaze head-on, almost defiantly. "So, what if I am? I suppose you believe the Prophet's version of things then?"

Her blue eyes were blazing, and now he knew where he had seen them before. How many times had he read the Daily Prophet's version of her parents' murders, read Rita Skeeter's articles that had mocked Thea as being crazy-but he had remembered her eyes in the photos-and at school. She had been a prefect at school-had busted him and Fred more than once, and she hadn't seemed crazy then. She most certainly didn't seem crazy now, no matter what the newspaper had said. He turned back to focus on her. "To be honest," he said quietly, "I always thought your story was more believable than the Prophet's-or that idiot Liam's story."

Thea blinked rapidly a few times, fighting back tears.

"Hey," he said. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to make you cry." He tried to move towards her and nearly tripped over a box, before shifting it out of the way-not that he knew what he was going to do if he reached her.

Thea shook her head. "No, it's not that...it's just that...there's only one other person who really believed me."

George moved another box, so he could stand in front of her. "I don't think that's true," he said quietly. "There are loads of people who know that anything by Skeeter's a load of rubbish."

"Thank you," she said softly, and for a moment, they just stared at each other, as if something magnetic was pulling them together before Thea finally stepped back. "I should go. I need to go back to work...and I need to figure out what to do about my boss." She took a few more steps back, turning to head out.

"Thea?" George called after her. "Is Liam Rowle your boss?"

Thea turned back to face him and nodded.

"Then you need to turn him in," George said seriously. "Say the word, and I'll get Ron and Harry back here. I know that they would believe you over Liam." Normally, he would've stayed out of it, but Liam had been a git back at school, and there was something about Thea that made George want to keep her there longer. It was almost like she was a kindred spirit-like they belonged to a club that nobody wanted to join, and for some reason, he just felt better being around her.

Thea looked as if she was considering it, but then she shook her head. "I don't know. I need some time to think about it."

George nodded. "If you decide you want to talk to them, let me know. I'll make sure you can get in touch with them." And if she did that, he would get to see her again, something he hoped would happen.

"I will," Thea said softly, before turning again for the door.

"Thea?" George called out to her again. When she looked back, he continued, "I'm really glad you wandered into my shop."


	3. Chapter 3: Jax

Jax headed down the mostly deserted London street. He didn't anticipate it would be deserted for long with work ending soon and the dinner rush about to begin. Keeping that in mind, Jax hurried his steps. At the end of the street, he could see the dark red phone booth.

When he reached it, he swung the door open before reaching into the pocket of his jeans for his muggle money. He was about to put the money in the slot, but something caught his eye down the street. Thea was approaching the employee entrance, but then she stopped, spinning on her heel to head away from it. She made it about five paces before stopping again. She took a breath, turned and headed back toward the entrance, before freezing again.

Abandoning the phone booth, Jax headed over to Thea. "Thea?"

Thea jumped, pressing a hand to her chest. "You scared me. How long have you been standing there?"

"A minute or two." Now that he was closer, he could see the tension in her face, the redness in her eyes, and the tears that still stained her cheeks. She wasn't crying now, but she had been, and that pulled something in him. "Come on," he said softly, gripping her arm and leading her down an alleyway. She didn't fight him.

Diagon Alley was quiet, as the London street had been, but that wouldn't be the case for long. Even now, people were starting to arrive on the alley. Jax pulled Thea into the Leaky Cauldron.

"Why are we here?" Thea asked.

Jax just shook his head and steered her over to a table. "Because I'm going to buy you a meal, and you're going to tell me what happened."

Thea just gave him a look.

A waitress, with dark hair the same color as Jax's, came over offering menus, but Jax shook his head. "I'll have the fisherman's pie, and she'll have the soup and salad. Butterbeer for me, and gillywater for her.

The waitress hurriedly took that down and then left them, and Jax turned to focus on Thea, who was glaring at him. Jax shook his head. "You and I both know that was what you would have ordered."

"So, why not let me order it?" Thea asked him.

Jax didn't really have an answer to that. "So, what happened?" he asked instead.

"I don't want to talk about it."

Jax waited a beat. "I'm in town for at least a few days-probably a few weeks, and you know I'm patient. Do you really want our time together to be awkward because I know you're keeping something from me?" There had only been one time she had ever kept anything from him-and that had been just after his parents had taken her in and she had become his sister in every way except for blood.

Thea sighed. "I'm thinking about breaking my vow."

Jax raised an eyebrow. "And why would you be thinking about that?" Thea took her vow very seriously, and she wouldn't consider breaking it unless...

Before Jax could voice that, the waitress returned with their drinks. He waited until she left, and then asked, "What did Liam do?" It was always about Liam-or at least it seemed to be.

Thea shook her head again.

Jax sat back. She might have been considering breaking her vow, but she wasn't ready to do the actual breaking of it just yet. "But it was Liam, wasn't it? Whatever it is that has you upset...it comes down to him again, doesn't it?"

Thea bit her lip. "It's not that simple."

"Isn't it?" Jax asked.

"No, it's not." Thea turned to the side, pressing her back against the wall. She stretched her legs out just enough that he could see her feet just beyond the edge of the small table. "It's not just Liam. I walked out." She turned her gaze and stared out into the rest of the restaurant. "I walked out after what I saw him do, and I wound up here in Diagon Alley. I..." She took a breath. "I ran into an old classmate from Hogwarts. I didn't break my vow, but he figured out that something had happened." Absently, she rubbed her right foot against her left ankle. "It came up...what happened before."

Jax cursed under his breath. "Who were you talking to earlier?" It was bad enough she had had to deal with all of this back then, but for someone to...

Thea shook her head. "He believed my side of the story."

Jax let out a breath. If anyone else had made that claim, he would have questioned it, but if Thea was saying that this person believed her, then he did. It was that simple. "Well, at least we know Liam didn't kill someone this time."

Thea looked away.

He had killed again? "Thea, if he's killed again, you have to tell someone." Like she should have before. Granted, she had, to a point, but no one had believed her.

"Yeah, that's been pointed out to me already." Thea slumped a little in her seat.

"Well, then why don't you listen?" But Jax was watching her, and he knew exactly why she was hesitant to say anything. What was the point in saying anything if no one would believe her?

Thea straightened. "Because he killed a house-elf," she said softly. "It's different. They didn't take me seriously then, and this is nothing compared to what he did before."

"It won't be like before." And he'd buy the stupid Daily Prophet to be sure if it came down to that.

The waitress appeared again with their plates, and this time Thea waited for her to leave before continuing.

"Who exactly am I supposed to tell?" Thea looked away, but Jax thought he saw tears welling up in her eyes before she did. "Even if he doesn't make me out to be crazy...would the ministry even care? This isn't exactly something you go to Aurors with."

"So maybe you don't go to an Auror," said Jax. "Maybe you go to someone who does care about what happens to house-elves." Although if he could convince her to talk to Aurors, he would. Liam belonged in Azkaban, and the only way that would happen was if Aurors were brought in. But he also understood why she was reluctant.

"And who..." She trailed off.

Jax didn't know anybody that would care, but given the way that Thea had trailed off, he was willing to bet she did. "You know of someone, don't you?"

"Hermione Granger works in the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures Department at the ministry. She was handing out pamphlets about house-elf rights or something." Thea pulled the pamphlet out of her pocket and unfolded it. "Here it is-she's trying to get better treatment for them." There was a black and white drawing of a house-elf on the front cover with the words _I Will Support S.P.E.W._, with _society for the promotion of elfish welfare _written in tiny writing underneath. "All I have to do is talk to Hermione, and then we can fix this whole thing."

"And how exactly do you plan on getting ahold of Hermione?" Jax was thrilled she was going to take action, but it wasn't as if she could approach Hermione at the ministry.

Thea stood and headed for the door.

Jax dropped a handful of galleons on the table to cover their meal and hurried after her.

"The person I was talking to earlier?" said Thea. "The old classmate? He offered to help me."

"He offered to get you in touch with Hermione? Who is this guy?"

Thea stopped and turned to face him. "George Weasley," she said reluctantly, continuing on before he had a chance to say anything to that. "And technically, he offered to get me in touch with his brother and Harry Potter, but that's almost the same thing."

Jax raised an eyebrow and was about to question her further, but Thea had started walking again. He grabbed her arm to slow her down. "And how did all of this come up?"

Thea shrugged. "We were just talking-and having tea when Ron and Harry showed up. I was afraid that Liam suspected I was considering breaking my vow and had sent them so I disillusioned myself until they had gone."

Of course, she had. Only Thea would have used magic to hide from Aurors when she had done nothing wrong. "And so, let me guess? He was suspicious then?"

Thea nodded. "Pretty much. He figured out who I was and told me that he had believed me, even back then. Then he offered to get me in touch with Harry and Ron when I was ready to turn Liam in. I mean, I hate to get him involved, but if he can get me in touch with Hermione..."

Jax watched her for a moment. There was something else, something she wasn't saying. "Was there something else that happened when you talked with George this afternoon?"

"No, of course not." And she turned to lead him to the door of the shop.


	4. Chapter 4: Thea

Thea allowed Jax to approach the door first. While she didn't exactly like his overprotective and stereotypical masculine behaviour, she felt that it was the lesser of the two evils. The thing about your best friend being there for your lowest point is that they _see _you at your lowest point. Jax had worried about her ever since, and this protective—this overprotective-behaviour made it easier on him.

The door opened, and Thea felt butterflies in her stomach as George appeared. She shoved the butterflies down, trying to ignore them to focus on the conversation.

"Can I help you?" George asked.

"We're sorry to intrude," said Jax, "but could we come in?"

"I'm actually closed." George moved to close the door.

"It's important." Jax stopped the door with his foot, and the two of them stared each other down.

Thea sighed and stepped to the side, so that George could see her.

George blinked at her. "Thea. I wasn't sure you were coming back." But he had apparently hoped she would, and that was enough.

"You offered to help me before. Does that offer still stand?"

George glanced over at Jax before focusing back on Thea and nodded. "Yeah, of course, it does. Come on in." He stepped aside so that both Thea and Jax could go in. "I'll contact Ron and see if I can get Ron and Harry here." He turned to head upstairs.

Thea shook her head. "I actually need to talk to Hermione."

Jax tapped Thea on the arm. "You should talk to Aurors."

Thea turned to look at him. "I told you-I don't want to get Aurors involved."

"I'll see if I can get all three of them here," said George with a shrug. "You can decide if you want to talk to Ron and Harry after they get here." And he headed upstairs.

Thea shook her head. "It's bad enough that I have to break my vow to talk to Hermione...I don't want any more people involved in this than have to be."

"You don't necessarily have to talk to them, but I'd prefer they come," said Jax. "You can make the decision whether or not to talk to them later like George said."

Thea shook her head again and paced away toward the shelves of merchandise. She didn't care about the latest version of extendable ears, but it allowed her the excuse to get away from Jax for a moment. Then she spotted some of the skiving snack boxes that had been so popular during their seventh year. She smiled at the memory.

There had been an understanding in Ravenclaw house that skiving snack boxes were allowed only if they were being used in Umbridge's class. If it was found that a Ravenclaw student used them in another class, the student would be given detention, lose 50 points from their house, and their stock of snack boxes would be confiscated. Needless to say, not one Ravenclaw used them outside of Umbridge's class.

"What are those? Skiving snack boxes?" Jax grinned. "I remember those. If I remember correctly, you preferred the fainting fancies."

Thea rolled her eyes. "That's only because I wasn't strong enough to carry you down to the hospital wing if you were to take them."

"Oh, yeah," said Jax vaguely. "Hey, why didn't we ever get into trouble for it?"

Thea looked over at him. "Really? You don't remember? First of all, we were the ones who made the rule that the snack boxes were allowed for use in Umbridge's class, and second, we did get in trouble with Umbridge." She shook her head. "I swear if I didn't know you were a Ravenclaw..."

Jax's gaze shot over to her. "Hey, I'm smart." He shook his head. "And we only got in trouble that once."

"That's because I kept transfiguring her quills. She threatened to expel us, but I had the highest test scores in our year and the entire Ravenclaw house to back me up. She couldn't expel us all."

Jax shook his head. "She really was awful. _Please copy the assigned text four times for maximum retention," _he said, imitating her, and Thea couldn't help laughing.

"And no magic," Thea said with another giggle before composing herself at least somewhat. "I think on some level she really did think that copying the textbook would be beneficial."

"You should laugh more often."

Thea turned at the voice to find George standing there, his hands in his pockets.

"You have a nice laugh."

"Oh, um..." She glanced over at the shelves. "We just saw your skiving snack boxes, and we were reminiscing about how we used them in Umbridge's class."

"Somehow I didn't take you for the type that would take those," George said quietly.

"I wasn't." Thea's voice was soft as she met his gaze. "But Umbridge was an exception. We even had a rule in Ravenclaw house-the snack boxes were allowed in her classes only. If they would have been used in any other classes, the consequences would have been severe. As far as I know, no Ravenclaws ever used them in any other classes."

"That's right," said George, tilting his head. "You caught Fred and me setting off our Wildfire Whizbangs that year when we were trying to mess with Umbridge. I thought for sure we were done—in detention for the rest of the year, but you just told us to give her hell."

"You didn't tell me about that," said Jax.

Thea shrugged. "It didn't really seem important at the time."

The bells on the door clanged.

"I'm telling you..." Ron cut off when Hermione elbowed him, but Thea was pretty sure it was just more of what Ron had been going on about when he had been in the shop earlier.

It wasn't just Ron and Harry that had come with Hermione, but a small red-haired witch was with them as well. Apparently, this hadn't been part of the plan as George asked, "Ginny, what are you doing here?"

"Did you really think I wasn't coming?" Ginny asked him. "What, am I an owl just meant to deliver the message?"

George shook his head at that. "That's my sister, Ginny, as I'm sure you've gathered, and I believe you've met or at least know of my brother Ron, Hermione, and Harry," he said, pointing them out. "And this is Thea and Jax," he added for everyone else's benefit. "Shall we then?" he asked, before leading them all upstairs. He opened the door to reveal an explosion of colour, not unlike the store downstairs. Thea had to blink to avoid being nearly blinded by all the colour. The living room, dining room combo sported two white couches with blue and orange pillows and orange corner tables and more orange chairs around an oval-shaped table.

George gestured for everyone to sit at the table. Although Thea imagined that the couches would be more comfortable, there was more room at the table for all of them.

"So, I understand that Thea had wanted to speak with me?" Hermione stood behind one of the chairs-Ron and Jax were already sitting, and Harry was about to sit.

"I did," Thea managed. She still had doubts about this-it was as if everything had spun out of control, but then, the only thing she knew to do was this.

Hermione nodded. "George, is there somewhere Thea and I can talk?"

George gestured down the hallway. Thea's gaze stayed on George for a moment-there was something about that room-before she followed Hermione down the hall.

The room was more subdued than the riotous and bold colours of the living room and dining room, although there were still touches of the orange in the orange couch and bright paintings on the walls. Hermione sat down on the couch, next to a long dark dresser, leaving Thea to sit on the bed. "So, what's going on?"

Thea opted not to sit, but instead paced the room, trying to find the courage to say what she needed to say. Finally, she sighed and turned to Hermione. "You know where I work. You know that I'm an Unspeakable." Finally, she sat down on the edge of the bed, her back straight, but she couldn't help fidgeting.

"So, you know that I didn't make this decision lightly," Thea continued. "But something happened today, and I can't keep my vow. I have to tell someone what I saw." And then she did. Thea told Hermione everything, starting with the letter from Jax about the expo, then about what she had witnessed with the house-elf and the dais.

Hermione was a good listener-she nodded and reacted in all the right places, but when Thea had finished telling the story, Hermione bit her lip. "Thea, I appreciate the position you're in, but I can't do anything about this on my own. You need to tell Ron and Harry what you told me."

It made sense, logically, that she would have to tell some Aurors. She knew that was why Jax wanted them here-he knew that there wasn't much that Hermione could do, but that didn't make it easy for her to break her vow again.

"I'll help you," Hermione continued, "but we need more information, and I'm not the best person to handle this. I'll help, I promise, but we need Ron and Harry."

Thea nodded. There was no other choice.

She stood again to pace the room as Hermione went to get Ron and Harry. She had a feeling she knew what was making George sad about the room now.

"So, what is this all about?" Ron asked as he, Hermione, and Harry came inside. "George and Jax wouldn't tell us anything."

Thea turned to face them. "What this is all about is the murder of a house-elf and an experiment to reverse death." And then she told them the same as she had told Hermione.

Once she had finished, Ron sat back on the bed; Harry and Hermione were on the couch. None of them spoke for a moment, but then it was Harry who broke the silence. "I appreciate the position you're in, but there's not really anything we can do."

Thea's heart dropped. It had been bad enough that she had broken her vow to tell Hermione, and then Hermione had said she couldn't do anything, but now even Aurors were telling her the same?

"We can question the other Unspeakables," Harry continued, "but given what you've said about them, it doesn't sound as if that will do us any good." Harry paused, and Thea could tell he was hesitant to say what came next. "Can you get us into the expo?" he asked finally.

Thea shook her head. "Not the three of you, but I think I can get George in."

Ron frowned up at her. "Why George?" And then he grinned. "You just want him to be the one to go because you like him." Clearly, he had not forgotten about the teacups earlier that afternoon.

Hermione rolled her eyes, and Harry looked away trying not to grin. "Ronald!" Hermione accused him, before turning to Thea. "Why do you think you can get George in, and not the rest of us?"

Thea tried to keep her face neutral, though it was hard not to react to Ron's comment. "Because Liam is looking for an investor. He's already told me that that's the only way I can be involved-if I find an investor. Plus," Thea said softly, knowing she would have to tread lightly here, "he lost a twin in the war. Liam will think he can take him for all he's got."

"No. Absolutely not," said Ron abruptly, but before he could say anything else, Thea spoke up again.

"I know that it's a painful issue," she began, but Ron jumped up before she could finish.

"No, you don't," he told her, his fists clenched. "You didn't watch your brother die," he all but spat out at her. "You didn't watch him fall in the aftermath of an explosion, stare into his blank eyes, and know he would never wake up again."

His eyes were flashing and angry, and Thea said nothing.

"So, don't talk to me about painful," he added in a whisper, grief evident in his eyes.

It was a lot—those grieving and flashing eyes, something that only a person who had lost someone would understand. Thea blinked rapidly a few times, trying to keep from crying at the feelings it evoked. "No," Thea said softly. "I didn't watch my brother die. I watched my parents die, murdered by someone I thought I could trust." She swallowed, still struggling not to break down. It might have been eight years earlier, before the war had even started, but it still hurt. "I don't know what it's like to lose a brother, but I do know what it's like to lose someone, so I don't make this request lightly. And I know that George is still hurting-there just isn't another way. If George goes with me to the expo, Liam will be so blinded by his greed that he'll tell us anything we want to know. I at least have to ask."

"Ron, I think she's right," Hermione said gently, coming over to squeeze Ron's shoulder. "We at least need to let her ask him."

Ron shrugged her off. "No. How can you be on her side?"

Hermione shook her head. "I'm not. I just think it should be George's choice, not any of ours."


	5. Chapter 5: George

After Ron and Harry had gone into Fred's bedroom to talk to Thea, George sat in awkward silence with Ginny and Jax. Although he knew Jax distantly-he was one of his suppliers after all-he didn't know him especially well. And even though he knew Ginny well, he didn't so much want to talk to her right now. More than that, George was wondering about what it was that Liam had done this time that had Thea so rattled, if it was just the reminder of what Liam had done before, or if George would ever find out at all.

When they finally came out of the room, both Harry and Hermione avoided George's gaze, and Ron looked miserable. George glanced over at Thea. She was harder to read than the other three, but her expression looked sad. Was that a slight frown?

"Can I talk to you?" she asked, her gaze falling on him.

George nodded and stood, walking back to Fred's bedroom with her. It felt strange to be in here with her-as if in a way he was sharing Fred's memory with her, which was silly, because she didn't really even know Fred. Sure, they had all had a couple of classes together at Hogwarts, but they had run with different crowds-Ravenclaws didn't usually hang out with Gryffindors outside of class.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" George asked when she didn't say anything right away. He supposed that he wanted to get this over with—it wasn't that he didn't want to be alone with her, it was more that he didn't want to be alone with her with all these memories. "Are you okay?" he asked finally.

"That depends on your definition of okay." Thea turned to meet his gaze. "I need your help, and it's a big ask."

They were standing in his dead brother's old room so anything felt like a big ask at this point. George took a breath. "What do you need?"

At first, Thea didn't answer, but the tense set to her shoulders and the grimace on her expression were dead giveaways to her discomfort. He had been right: this was hard for her, too. "My boss is doing experiments on house-elves, and he killed one of them today. I think he's trying to figure out how to reverse death."

Which explained why she had wanted to talk to Hermione, but not what she needed from him.

"They're having an expo," Thea continued. "They want to raise money for their experiments, and in order for me to get in-and for Ron and Harry to stop him, I need to get in-I need to bring him a potential investor."

"You want me to go with you," George said softly.

Thea nodded, biting her lip.

"That's not that big of an ask..." George paused, taking in her expression. "Unless there's something more?"

Thea turned away from him to stare at the wall. "He's trying to reverse death. He'll believe you want to invest, because of your brother, because of Fred."

He thought he heard her voice break a little at having to bring that up, but he was so focused on the fist tightening around his heart that he couldn't be sure. "You want to use Fred?" he managed.

When she turned to face him, tears glistened in her eyes. "If we use his death...let Liam think that you want to bring him back...he'd tell us anything we want to know. I did say it was a big ask, and I'm sorry. I wish there was another way. I mean, if you can't do it, if it's too much...we'll have to find another way, do the best we can to get the information, but I know that this is the best option, so I had to ask."

For what felt like several moments, George just stood there, unable to respond, before finally, he made his legs move across the room to her. Moving slowly, he reached up a hand to gently brush away her tears. "It is a big ask," he said softly. "But I think that Fred would have liked knowing that his memory was being used for something good, and I think helping you put that prat Liam in his place qualifies."

Thea nodded. "Thank you."

George stepped back. "You know, this was his room. I remember when we first moved in here-he wanted loud, bright colours-we always did loud, bright colours...It was the first time I had had a room of my own-I had had to decide if I wanted to continue the tradition or to go my own way." In the end, he had chosen a bit more muted of a colour scheme, but with a few hints of that explosion. "If I close my eyes sometimes it's easy to imagine that he'll be coming through that door in just a few minutes."

"Sometimes I feel the same way about my parents." Thea's voice was soft, and she didn't meet his gaze. She was staring off to another place-or rather, more likely, another time. "They died about a year before the war officially started, but you never really get over it." She shook her head, finally meeting his eyes. "I am sorry that your brother died."

"I'm sorry about your parents." Then they just stood there, in Fred's room in comfortable silence.


	6. Chapter 6: Thea

"Cave floors, the middle of the desert, hell, the middle of a storm. I can sleep through any of those, but apparently, I can't sleep here."

Thea started and looked over at Jax as he swung his legs over the side of the couch and rested his elbows on his knees as he looked over at her. She winced. Apparently, her pacing had woken him up. "Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

Jax sighed, running his hands over his eyes. "Thea, you can do this. Liam's an idiot. He's always been an idiot and will always be an idiot, just as you've always been brilliant. He won't figure out what you're up to."

Thea glanced over at him. "Are you reading my mind?"

Jax ran a hand over his face. "Thea, I couldn't read your mind even if I wanted to. You know that."

Thea looked over at him. He was telling the truth. "I thought maybe I was just that off that you had been able to."

"You are that off," Jax pointed out, fixing his eyes on her. "That's why I don't need to. Now, go find out what this stupid expo is so we can have Liam arrested already."

Thea nodded. "Thanks." She headed outside. As she headed down the street, the sun was just rising, casting a dim light over her path. She turned down an alleyway and disapparated, reappearing outside the ministry.

For a moment, Thea could only stare at the entryway. She didn't want to go in. She took a deep breath. Let it out. It didn't work. The butterflies in her stomach had butterflies she was so nervous.

She waited a few seconds more and then forced herself to walk to the employee entrance. After a moment, she entered through one of the fireplaces and began heading for the lifts. The lifts were crowded as usual, and Thea squeezed in, taking a few deep breaths as she did.

Being squeezed into the lift with other employees like a bunch of sardines was not her idea of fun, but today it was worse. She was already anxious about facing Liam and adding claustrophobia to that mix just made her want to run away screaming. The lifts clanged as they headed down to level nine and the Department of Mysteries.

When Thea reached the revolving door of her department, she pointed her wand at the wall opposite her and uttered, "Mors revelare." A door swung open, and Thea headed inside.

Liam was standing in the middle of the room, his back facing her, speaking to what she presumed was another house-elf. Today, he wore denim from head to toe, including wearing a denim fishing hat. Thea could only shake her head at his fashion choices. "Liam?"

As expected, he ignored her, focusing on another house-elf. This one appeared to be older-and likely male judging by the hair coming out of his ears.

"Now elf," said Liam, "you will apparate into the water, where you will stay for precisely ten minutes and then apparate out. Do you understand me?"

Thea looked and saw that beside the house-elf was a tank full of water, much like what muggles would use to keep fish.

"Yes, master," croaked the old elf. He didn't have as much fight in him as the elf from the day before-Zelda-had had. The elf disapparated and reappeared in the tank.

Thea looked away, but not before she caught a glimpse of the elf floating in the fish tank. How many more house-elves would she have to watch be tortured before this was over?

"Now what is it, Thea?" Liam asked, with an exasperated sigh.

"Oh, I just have an investor for you," said Thea, trying to ignore the elf.

Liam's eyes lit up, and Thea could all but see galleons in them. "Why didn't you say so? The expo is tomorrow night-eight o'clock." He fumbled with his coat pockets and pulled out two laminated cards. "Make sure you have those with you-you'll need them to get in-both you and your investor. We're working on bringing the dead back to life. Can you imagine? No one has to die anymore-or rather, they don't have to stay dead."

He continued rambling on until Thea was finally able to pull away. Her head was spinning by the end of their conversation. Liam really was crazy-life and death weren't things to be messed with...the implications...and she wasn't just thinking about the positives that Liam seemed to be focusing on-she was thinking of the damage they could do.

Thea headed back into the love room. This time she headed for the fountain of amortentia, staring into its ebullient depths. She wasn't going to be getting much work done today; she would be too busy thinking about that poor elf in the fish tank and on how to stop Liam.

The following night, Thea stood before the mirror on her closet door. She wore a long black dress that had been in her closet forever, but that she had rarely worn. The thin fabric clung to every curve, and the top of the dress showed far more cleavage than she would have liked. Her hair was in a sleek updo aided by the application of Sleekeazy hair potion, and the come-hither makeup had her feeling like she was looking into the reflection of a stranger. "Are you sure about this?"

Ginny looked up from where she was collecting her makeup. "Definitely. Harry said that he wants you to be 'distracting', so George and Jax can poke around a bit. Plus, no one is ever going to take you seriously in that dress."

"Gee thanks."

Hermione shook her head. "That's not what she means. She just means that no one will be expecting you to be up to anything-they'll underestimate you, which is a good thing."

"People already seem to underestimate me," Thea muttered. And she wasn't just talking about Liam.

There was a knock on the bedroom door, and Thea, being the closest, took the few steps to the door to open it. Jax was standing on the other side, and he froze, eyes wide when he saw her. "Wow, you look...you don't look like you."

Thea shook her head. "I'm gonna take this off." She grabbed for a tissue.

Ginny and Hermione moved to stop her, but Jax got there first, gently pushing her hands down from her face and holding onto them to keep them there. "I didn't say you looked bad," he said, rolling his eyes.

Thea tried to pull her hands out of his grasp, but he held fast. "Let go."

"Only if you promise not to mess with it."

Thea glared at him.

Jax sighed impatiently. "Just hear me out first. You still want to wipe it off after that, then go ahead-I won't stop you."

"Fine."

Jax released her hands. "I just meant that you're not really the femme fatale type, but you are smart enough to know the power you hold if you go in like this."

He had a point there.

"It's not right," Jax continued. "It's not fair, but the way a woman looks can be used as a weapon. You're just not used to utilizing it. Between you in this dress and George wanting his brother back, Liam isn't going to pay the slightest bit of attention to me. I know you're used to being the one behind the scenes while someone else is the distraction, but you can do this."

Thea nodded. "Thank you." Then she grinned. "You really think I look like a femme fatale?"

Jax laughed. "Most definitely. If I didn't think of you like a sister, I'd probably be attracted to you right now." He frowned at that. "Which is disturbing on so many levels. Maybe you should change."

It was meant as a joke-mostly-so Thea just laughed.

"Anyway," said Jax, "I just wanted to let you know that I'm heading out. I'll probably see you there, but I was thinking that it would be better if we didn't really interact much-I don't think Liam remembers me from back then, and we might be able to find out more if we kept it that way."

Thea narrowed her eyes, considering that. "You may be right. He could be faking though-that he doesn't remember you, I mean. If he's forgotten, then that could benefit us, but we can't count on it."

"Yeah, I know. But I just wanted to let you know because I probably won't be back tonight." He made a face. "I'm getting a hotel for now just in case this whole operation goes on past tonight."

Thea couldn't help a chuckle at that. "And we both know how you hate hotels."

"I spend most nights at a hotel or camping." Jax shoved his hands into the pockets of his robes, which were the same shade of blue as his eyes. "I don't want to stay in a hotel when I'm back in London."

Thea gave him a quick hug. "Well, hopefully, we'll get everything we need tonight, and you'll be able to come back here."

"I'll see you...when I see you, I guess," he said awkwardly, before heading out, and Thea turned to Ginny who had finished packing up the makeup and was holding out a pair of black stilettos.

Thea cringed. High heels were not fun.


	7. Chapter 7: George

George's hands shook as he straightened his tie. He barely recognized his reflection in the mirror; it had been a long time since he had dressed up-two years in fact-for Fred's funeral. There hadn't been much reason to dress up since then.

"So, remember, your job is to get as much information about this project as possible. Thea's given us a lot, but whatever you find out should help corroborate her story," said Harry from his position standing next to George.

"I know." George fiddled with his tie again even though he knew it was already straight. "You went over this already."

"You just seem a bit nervous is all," Harry told him, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"I don't think he's nervous about Liam, mate," said Ron, who was sitting on the edge of George's bed just behind them. "I think it has something to do with another Unspeakable."

"Shut up, Ron," said George, though his voice didn't really have any heat in it. He _was_ looking forward to seeing Thea-even if he wasn't looking forward to using Fred's memory to help her take down Liam.

They heard the bell downstairs. "I expect that'll be the girls," said Harry. "I'll get it." And he headed off, leaving George and Ron alone upstairs.

"Seriously though," said Ron. "It's good to see you a little more yourself. You haven't been since..."

"Ron," George warned. He was nervous enough as it was-he couldn't handle a conversation about Fred, too.

Ron sighed. "We just worry about you, all of us, Mum, Dad, Ginny..."

"Ron!" he said again, more forcefully this time.

Ron flinched, but before George could apologize or say anything else, Harry poked his head in through the doorway.

"The girls are here," he said.

"We'll be right out," George told him, before turning to focus on Ron. "Ron..." he began apologetically.

"It's fine. We should head out." Ron was already heading for the door.

"Ron, I'm sorry."

Ron didn't respond, so George followed him out into the living room. His attention had been fixed on Ron-that was until he saw Thea. Her black dress was longer, but the material clung to her in a way that showed off her curves. Her usually bushy hair was styled in sleek curls, and it was clear she was wearing makeup, just enough to add an extra punch to her eyes, which were as blue as ever. "You look beautiful," he told her.

Thea bit her lip. "Thank you."

"So, remember," said Harry, "you need to keep Liam's attention on you-more you, Thea, but George, too, so that Jax can poke around." He turned his focus to Thea. "Can you handle this?"

Thea pressed her lips together. "I may not be used to this sort of thing, but I can handle myself-and it's ultimately my plan."

Harry shook his head. "It's not that-it may be your plan, but I'm the one who has to run this mission, and I don't know you that well, so I just wanted to check in before you go."

"Yeah, but it's coming across as if you don't trust her," George pointed out, meeting Harry's eyes in a challenge. "She can handle this, so lay off."

Thea raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing, while Harry looked away. "I'd rather hear her say that," he muttered.

"During the second wizarding war," Thea began softly, "I was wanted as a muggle-born who had avoided interview. They sent snatchers and Aurors after me but never found me. Granted, I was of low-level interest to them compared to Undesirable Number 1, but they still made some effort." She took a breath. "I'm not traditionally a soldier-that's not really in my makeup. It's why I didn't become an Auror, but I'm good at finding out things-even without wearing all of this."

"I don't doubt that you can handle yourself..."

"Yes, you do."

For a moment, the two stared each other down before Harry spoke: "You're a legilimens."

What? Where did he...George's head jerked over to Thea, expecting her to be frowning or for her to protest, but instead, she was grinning.

"Most people don't figure it out that quickly," Thea told Harry. "How did you put it together?"

"Talking to you is like talking to Dumbledore." Harry shrugged. "He always seemed to know more than he let on."

George shook his head. "So, wait a minute...all this time...you've been able to read our minds?" It stood to reason that if she had known that Harry was thinking she couldn't handle herself, then she had known that he had thought she was a criminal in his shop as well as...before he really had a chance to be embarrassed though, Harry had spoken up.

"It doesn't necessarily work like that," Harry pointed out.

"Yes, more or less," Thea answered though. "I mean, Harry's right, for a lot of people it doesn't, but I mostly come by it naturally."

Harry looked back over at her. "You don't cast a spell?"

Thea shook her head. "No. I mean I did when I was learning how to control it, but that was a long time ago."

"Eight years," George said softly. It had to be. Eight years ago was when Liam had killed her parents. She would have been motivated to learn to control it after that.

Thea looked over at him, eyebrows raised. Was she impressed that he had figured that out? "Yes, exactly," she said softly.

Harry rubbed the back of his neck. "People underestimate you at their own peril, don't they?"

Thea chuckled at that. "If I were the violent-type I suppose, but then mostly I'd rather just stick to the shadows. That's the only thing that worries me about this plan," she admitted. "We've set it up, so I'll be in the centre of attention."

"Somehow I think you can play the part you need to," Harry assured her. "I believe in you, and I'm sorry I implied otherwise."

Thea nodded. "You aren't the first, and you won't be the last. Should we go? Or was there something else?"

Harry shook his head. "No. I think you're good to go."

That was George's cue. "Your carriage awaits, my lady." And he bowed low, before straightening to take her hand.

Thea was shaking her head, but there was laughter in her eyes as the two of them headed out.


	8. Chapter 8: Jax

It wasn't yet dark as Jax made his way down the London street toward the visitors' entrance to the Ministry of Magic. The red phone booth stood silent and empty, but standing next to it was a wizard in baggy jeans, a tie-dyed t-shirt, and a baseball cap on backwards. Jax assumed that this was his escort.

Pulling his pass out of his pocket, Jax headed for the wizard. "I'm here for the expo."

The wizard held out a hand for his pass, and Jax handed it to him. "This seems to be in order," said the wizard. "Right this way." He led Jax into the phone booth. After the wizard inserted his muggle money, the phone booth began to descend into the ministry.

When they arrived in the main atrium, another wizard stood waiting for them. This wizard was tall, with dark-hair and bucked teeth, but at least he wasn't wearing any atrocious muggle-styles. Instead, he was dressed in fancy green robes. The wizard from the phone booth handed over Jax's pass. "Flint will take you from here."

"Flint?" Jax grinned. "Oh, yeah, I remember Flint from Hogwarts. So where are we going, Flint?"

Flint struggled to keep the disdain off of his face. "Down to the Department of Ministries. Liam is waiting for you."

Jax raised an eyebrow. So, apparently, he was important enough to warrant the head sleaze ball himself. He wondered if Thea and George would get the same treatment. He imagined that once Liam found out about George's brother that they would.

Jax followed Flint to the lifts and downstairs. He had always hated how they clanged and shifted unpredictably. Finally, though, they made it downstairs where he was led down a glowing green hallway to a closed door.

"Right this way," said Flint through gritted teeth, and Jax followed him into a large room. Jax had expected the department to be dark and gloomy-especially after the dark hallway just outside. But they had lit torches along the walls adding a soft, warm glow to the room, and over the ceiling, a huge ball of light, as if someone had cast Lumos maxima on the room.

A long buffet table ran against the sidewall, topped with all sorts of foods-not just traditional British fare, but Jax had thought he spotted Egyptian basbousa, one of his favourites during his stays in Africa. In addition, there were couches and soft chairs around the rest of the room, with another, as of yet, empty table on the far side of the room that Jax assumed was for the demonstration. Although, whatever Liam was planning to demonstrate, Jax assumed would be not to his liking.

Flint led him over to the demonstration table to where Liam Rowle stood dressed in simple green dress robes, his short blonde hair styled in spikes. Jax had to try not to laugh. While Liam hadn't worn any of the absurd muggle fashions that Thea had described in her owls, the spiky hair still looked ridiculous.

"Liam, this is Jaxon Carter," said Flint.

"Ah, yes," said Liam, offering Jax a charming but fake smile.

"Liam, it's nice to meet you," said Jax, offering his hand to shake, even though the last thing he wanted was to touch that slimy, greaseball's hand. He wanted to strangle him for what he had done to Thea, but instead, he pasted a charming smile on his face and shook the man's hand. "This is quite the set up here."

"Yes. We've tried to cater to all our guests' unique tastes," said Liam. "I've heard it said that you especially like the Egyptian basbousa so I made sure that we had some here."

"Yes, I saw that," said Jax. "I was eyeing it when you called me over." He had no intention of touching anything that was served here. "So, what is the plan? It can't just all be a party with good food served."

Liam laughed heartily. "Oh, of course not. We're just waiting for everyone to arrive-that's when the real show starts."

"Show?"

"Well, I shouldn't really say 'show'," said Liam, leaning in to whisper conspiratorially. "It's more a demonstration. We're exploring the nature of a house-elf's powers-we think they may be the key to reversing death."

Jax raised an eyebrow and pretended to be interested, which didn't take much because that was why he was there-to find out what Liam and the other Unspeakables were up to. "Reversing death? I read that on the invite, but I wasn't entirely clear on how that was to happen."

"Come with me." Liam gestured for Jax to follow him. He led Jax across the room to one of the doorways. "Mors revelare." A door opened, and Liam led him inside.

This room was more what Jax had expected. The room was almost entirely made of stone. Stone benches were around the outside of the room, each bench connected to a steep, stone staircase.

Liam led Jax down one of the staircases to where a dais stood on a stone platform. The black veil on the platform swayed eerily in a non-existent breeze.

"What is this?" Jax asked.

"It's a dais," said Liam, "but this dais is special-it's a gateway between the world of the living and the world of the dead. We just haven't figured out how to reverse the doorway yet. Right now, the doorway only works one way I'm afraid. We can go through the door, but we can't come back. We're hoping to figure out a way to use a house-elf's magic to make the return trip."

"I see," said Jax. And he unfortunately, did see. "Have you had any success yet?"

"With the dais? No," Liam admitted. "Though we did have a house-elf survive drowning yesterday. He managed to hold his breath for ten minutes underwater because he was commanded to-previously, he was unable to do so, so we do have hope that we'll be able to make it work."

Jax nodded. "I'll look forward to seeing what you come up with."

"With a generous donation of course?"

And there it was. Jax wouldn't be giving a penny toward this cause if he could get out of it. The idea made him sick, but he said, "Of course," and that seemed to satisfy Liam.


	9. Chapter 9: Thea

The sun was just going down as Thea and George made their way toward the visitors' entrance to the ministry. Standing beside the red phone booth was Richard Burke wearing baggy jeans, a tie-dyed shirt, and a baseball cap on backwards. It seemed he had Liam's fashion sense-or rather, lack thereof. "Richard," Thea said politely in greeting once they had gotten close enough.

Richard made a face as if trying to place her. After a moment, his eyes widened. "Thea?"

Thea handed him her pass. She didn't know whether to be amused or appalled at the way he was looking at her, but luckily, he came to his senses quickly.

"I know the way in if you want to take a break," Thea told him.

Richard shook his head. "No, Liam wants to see you."

Thea narrowed her eyes. "Does he now?" Her legilimency told her that what Richard had meant was that Liam wanted to meet her investor, but Richard wouldn't tell her that.

"This way," Richard said, gesturing to the phone booth, and Thea and George stepped inside, followed by Richard. "I'm Richard Burke," he said, offering his hand to George to shake.

"George Weasley," said George, awkwardly shifting in the close quarters to take Burke's hand and briefly shake it, before handing him his pass. The lift lowered creakily down to the main floor of the ministry. The three of them stepped out. "Adrian Pucey?" George asked when they arrived, addressing the light-haired wizard in green robes.

Pucey turned to blink at George. "George Weasley? And..." His eyes widened as he took in Thea in her black dress. "Thea?"

Burke handed Pucey the passes. "Liam wanted to see them right away," Burke reminded him, giving Pucey a glare as if to say he disapproved of the way that Pucey was staring at Thea—which he did. While he had had a similar initial reaction, he had gotten himself in control much more quickly and seemed to feel that Pucey's lack of control was a sign of unprofessionalism.

Thea, while uncomfortable with the attention, was just glad that at least one part of their plan was working.

Pucey blinked and nodded, his face going blank. "Come with me." He led them to the lifts, which clanged all the way down to the Department of Mysteries. He led them into the main atrium. "Wait here," he told them, before heading off to the other side of the room.

Liam and the other Unspeakables had lit the chamber with torches and the Lumos Maxima spell. The room looked different than when Thea had been down here last with the addition of a buffet table and couches and chairs, but she was more focused on Pucey. "He's suspicious," she said softly.

George looked over at her. "He's suspicious? I thought you said this was going to work?"

Thea shook her head as Pucey returned with Liam.

"George Weasley, I understand it?" Liam asked, offering his hand to shake.

"Yes, that's right." George shook his hand briefly, before releasing it.

"George owns a successful joke shop in Diagon Alley," Thea explained, although successful was stretching it. It might have been successful for a time until the twins had had to abandon it during the war, but from what she understood, George hadn't really built it back up—he had gone more to a mail order catalogue than an open store.

Liam turned to face Thea, and his eyes widened. "Thea." He blinked.

Him being stunned Thea could handle, but the hunger in his eyes as he scrutinized her just made her sick. It reminded her too much of old times—old times she desperately wanted to forget.

Luckily for her, his examination was over quickly, and Liam turned back to George. "Weasley? No relation to Ron Weasley is there?"

"He's my brother," said George smoothly. "But we haven't been particularly close as of late." It had been a lie that they had practised, knowing there was a good chance Liam would ask.

"As I'm sure you remember, he lost his twin brother in the Battle of Hogwarts," Thea spoke up. She hated having to do it, but she knew that George wasn't going to bring it up, and without it, the odds of success were much lower.

George stiffened. "Yes, well," he managed shakily. "That's part of my interest in your research. When Thea told me what you were working on...I just had to find out for myself. Do you really think you can find a way to bring the dead back to life?"

"Well, that's the goal," said Liam with a toothy grin. He was looking at George the way cartoon characters looked at a companion and saw food when they were starving on a deserted island. Only thing was, what Liam wanted was money, not food.

"We've had some small successes so far with house-elves," Liam continued with a smirk, looking quite proud of himself, "keeping them alive for longer than they ordinarily would survive in very tough situations."

"So, then the house-elf survived yesterday?" Thea asked.

"Yes. That experiment was a complete success I am proud to say," said Liam, before leaning over to whisper to Thea. "You did very well in bringing him to me. I will ensure that you get a raise for this."

Thea didn't know what to say to that so she merely nodded.

"Now," said Liam, "if you'll excuse me, I need to get set up for the demonstration. I'll be back to speak with you later." And he headed away.

Thea waited until Liam was out of earshot before turning to George and whispering, "Are you all right?"

George shook his head. "No." He tried to compose himself but ultimately failed. "I need some air. Is there anywhere..."

Thea nodded. "Come with me." She led him back over to the doors. "Amor revelare," she said softly, and one of the doors opened. "Come on." She led him inside, closing the door behind them.


	10. Chapter 10: George

As soon as George stepped into the room, he was hit with a whiff of fresh bacon, new leather, and some sort of flowery scent he had smelled before but didn't know what it was. He looked in the direction of the smell to see a glowing fountain in the middle of what otherwise looked like a potions lab with some equipment that he didn't recognize. George, however, was focused on the fountain. "Why do you have a fountain of amortentia in here?"

Thea rolled her eyes. "The ministry used to study the effects of amortentia on people as if that would tell them the effects of love. Ever since I came here though we've changed tactics. I've been working with the University of Cambridge on scientific studies to determine the effects of love-things like how Lily Potter's sacrifice created sacrificial protection for Harry, and how Harry's sacrifice at the end of the war protected everyone else."

George blinked at her, clearly confused. "And how exactly does science relate to magic?"

"Well, science and magic are intertwined. It's easiest to see with potions...or with joke shop products." Thea offered him a small smile. "While there's a chemical formula to achieve the desired effect with a potion..."

"Or joke product," George interrupted her, grinning.

Thea chuckled. "Yes, or joke product."

"But there's no chemical formula for love," George pointed out, serious now, because he really wanted to understand.

"Well, yes, and no," said Thea. "You can't create love in a test tube-I mean, amortentia is about as close as you can get to that, but that's not real love-it's just a cheap manufacturing of it. What you can do is measure brain waves, measure chemicals in the brain-dopamine, serotonin...and use those to understand the scientific basis of love. That can give you a chemical formula. Right now, it does little more than explain what love looks like in the brain, but my hope is that once we understand how it works, we'll be able to harness it."

"Okay, that all makes sense," said George, nodding along with her. He had never heard of dopamine or serotonin, but he didn't doubt that she knew what she was talking about. "What doesn't make sense is what that has to do with magic."

Thea nodded. "Well, the more we understand about the science, the more we can use that to understand how the magic works. Magic doesn't work independent of science and vice-versa." She shook her head. "It's hard to explain."

"Yeah, I got that." But she clearly had an understanding of the magic of love...did that mean that she understood the magic of death, the mysteries that Liam was trying to solve? George looked over at her hopefully, but before he could voice his question, she was turning away from him.

"Liam can't bring Fred back," she said softly.

"But could you?" George pleaded desperately. She knew more about this than anyone he knew...if there was any hope, any hope at all, she would be the one who could give it to him.

Thea turned toward him, shaking her head and planting her hands on the table, palms down. "No. No one can because life and death aren't things that we should be messing with. There are consequences when you mess with the grand design."

"But in theory..." She had to know something. He knew that Liam was a fraud and an idiot, but Thea knew what she was talking about-she understood the science of it, the magic...

Thea didn't say anything at first, but turned to face him and closed the distance between them. Slowly, she wrapped her arms around him in a gentle hug. "I'm sorry about what happened to your brother," she whispered.

It was like a dam breaking. Two-years-worth of grief came pouring out, and all George could do was cling to Thea like a life raft in the middle of a flash flood.

He didn't know how long he stood there crying on Thea's shoulder, but finally, he came back to himself and pulled back, noticing as he did, that flowery scent again. While the scent from the amortentia had been overwhelming—this was subtle and seemed to be coming from Thea's hair.

George blinked, turning his focus back to Thea. "Sorry. I don't know where that came from." He wasn't one for huge displays of emotion like that. In fact, he had barely cried after Fred had died. What was it about her that all of a sudden seemed to bring everything up again?

Thea shook her head. "It's all right. Do you at least feel a little better?"

"Surprisingly, yes," said George. "Even so, I didn't mean to fall apart on you. Does Liam believe our act?" he asked, quickly changing the subject. His grief over Fred was not something he wanted to discuss right now, and somehow; he didn't think that Thea wanted to know that the flowery scent from the amortentia was the scent of her hair. She had enough things to worry about.

"Yes," said Thea. "He thinks he can take you for every penny you've got and then some." She glanced toward the door. "We should probably get back out there though."

George nodded and started to follow her in that direction. She pulled out her wand to unlock it, and George grabbed her arm to stop her for a moment. "Thea? Thank you for listening. Even though you can't bring him back, you were still there for me, and I won't forget that."

Thea offered him a small smile. "Of course."

And then they continued out the door, so they could head out to see the demonstration.


	11. Chapter 11: Thea

Once everyone was seated, Liam stepped up to the front of the room and to the demonstration table. "Thank you all for coming," said Liam. "As your invitations have stated, we are trying to achieve something momentous, and we are inviting you all to be a part of it." He turned to the side. "I present to you a house-elf."

There was an awkward silence because really, who was interested in a house-elf? Everyone there knew what a house-elf was, and it was anything but momentous, but for Thea, she was concerned about the elf. It was the same elf from the day before-apparently, Liam liked this elf. He was more cooperative after all.

"I know it's just a house-elf," said Liam, "but we've learned that house-elves' powers tend to be underrated. Wizarding magic cannot bring someone back from the dead, it's true, but the magic of a house-elf is just now being explored." He turned to focus on the elf. "House-elf!" And he gestured toward a ladder set up beside the table. "You are to climb to the top of the ladder and then dive off. After you land on your head, you will heal yourself and climb back up onto the table."

Thea had to stifle a gasp as the elf croaked, "Yes, Master," and began to climb.

Thea watched in horror as the elf took each step up the ladder. Finally, the elf reached the top and dove, head first, crashing onto the concrete floor. Thea turned away as the elf moaned in pain. He let out another whimper, and then there was silence.

Thea peeked a glance at him, fearing that he was dead, but it turned out he had just healed himself as ordered-just in time for Liam to give another order. Thea watched, sickened by the display, as the elf followed order after order that Liam gave, and over and over he survived certain death. Unable to watch any longer, Thea began looking around at the crowd. Neither George nor Jax were happy with what they were seeing, but there seemed to be a lot of people watching eagerly.

"It's just a house-elf," some of them said.

"It's for a really good cause," others said.

Thea shook her head and headed for the love room. George and Jax were on their own for a few minutes. She should've stopped him before. Why hadn't there been a way to stop him? What if there wasn't a way to stop him now?

Before she could even get out her wand, a voice called out from behind her, "There you are!"

Thea jumped, blinking to find Liam standing there. Great. Just great. The demonstration must have been over, and Liam had apparently not wasted any time in trying to find her.

"So, I've been thinking over your new salary." Liam handed her a folded slip of paper.

Thea didn't open it-the paper was just an excuse.

"Of course," Liam put his arm around her, "if you would be willing to consider reigniting old flames, that number could go even higher."

That was what Liam was after. Luckily, before Thea had a chance to respond, George appeared. "Are you all right?" he asked her.

Liam removed his arm. "Your charming date and I were just going down memory lane a bit. Did she tell you that we knew each other back at Hogwarts?"

"It might have come up," George said lightly.

Liam offered a sardonic smile. "Well, I have a few other investors to speak to, but can I count on you for a donation?"

"Of course," said George, and Liam seemed satisfied with that, heading over to a group of investors that seemed to be waiting for his attention.

"Amor revelare." When the door opened, Thea headed straight into the love room, George following closely behind. With a flick of her wand, she closed the door.

"This is just as hard on you as it is on me, isn't it?"

Thea turned to look over at George. She took a breath. "It's bad enough having to be around him, remembering what he did, but having to sit there and watch him torture that elf..." Her voice broke, tears welling up in her eyes. "Maybe it's silly...getting that upset about a house-elf, but torture is still torture."

George took a step closer and used two fingers to tilt her chin up, so she was looking at him. There was only concern for her in his features. "I don't think it's silly," he said quietly. "I think he needs to be stopped. That's why we're here, isn't it?"

Thea nodded. "It is." She sighed, wiping away the tears. "Maybe we should get back out there."

"Or we can wait a few minutes," he said, leading her over to some chairs near the wall. "You should have a chance to settle."

Thea sat down beside him. "Thank you."

"What was he blathering on about before I rescued you?" George asked.

Thea sighed. "Oh, he was telling me about my raise for bringing you here," she held up the paper as evidence, "but really, he was attempting to try it on with me. Luckily, you showed up before I had to do anything drastic." Although the idea of a guy coming to her rescue bugged her to no end, that was essentially what he had done.

George rolled his eyes. "He's a right git, you know that?"

Thea laughed. "Funnily enough, I did know that," she told him.

"We can get out of here if this is too much for you," said George. "I don't like the way he was looking at you."

Thea shook her head. "We're not finished yet."

"Well, then let's finish this and get the hell out of here," said George, coming to his feet. He offered his hand to Thea, which she took, and the two of them headed back out to finish the mission.


	12. Chapter 12: Jax

After Liam had left him, Jax began to wander around and mingle. There were a few other business owners and even a couple of members of the ministry, but no one Jax would have voluntarily spent time with before this—but then, he supposed that was a good thing. No one that he associated with would want to be here. And then that was when he ran into her.

Although he didn't know this woman, he knew he had seen her somewhere before—he just couldn't place where. Brown hair and brown eyes offset her tan skin, and she was tall—not extremely so but taller than most women. Her robes were purple, set off by purple heels. Who wore purple shoes?

Jax approached her. "Excuse me, Miss, but do I know you?"

The woman turned to focus on Jax. "No," she said with a smile, "we haven't officially met, but we ran into each other on an expedition down in South America once. We just weren't introduced."

"That's right," said Jax, remembering. "You were on the Olmec excavation...while I was looking into the Mayans."

The woman grinned. "That's right. "I'm Valentina." She offered her hand to shake.

"It's nice to meet you." Jax shook her hand. "So, what did you think of the presentation?" That was a normal question to ask in this situation, wasn't it?

"Honestly, I didn't care for it," Valentina admitted. "I have to admit, I was intrigued by the owl I received from them, but what they did to that house-elf was deplorable."

Jax let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. "I felt the same way," he admitted. "But don't tell Liam that." It probably wasn't smart to confide in her—it could easily blow his cover—but he couldn't help it. He couldn't stand what Liam was doing, and he hated having to pretend he supported that git.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," said Valentina. "My lips are sealed." She brushed her fingers over her lips as if she was zipping them. "I trust that you'll keep my opinions to yourself as well?"

"Of course," said Jax, though now, he was attempting, non-verbally, to cast legilimency on her—something was off, but her thoughts were consistent with what she was saying. That meant she was either telling the truth, or she was an occlumens—and she didn't have to be a particularly skilled one either in order to block him from reading her true thoughts. While Thea was a skilled legilimens, due in part because of her natural ability to read thoughts, Jax possessed only a small amount of skill that he had gained through helping Thea practise.

"Valentina."

Jax turned to see Liam standing behind him. "You are a vision tonight. I didn't know that you and Jax knew each other."

"That's because we only knew each other distantly," said Jax. "We were on similar expeditions in South America."

"That's right-I forgot you were a treasure hunter," said Liam, his gaze on Valentina. "Orrin did tell me, but with everything else going on, it slipped my mind. How are you finding the expo so far?"

"It's very intriguing," said Valentina. "Can you really do as you claim?" she asked. "Can you really bring someone back from the dead?"

"All in good time," said Liam with a cheeky grin. "All in good time. Now then, I've got to mingle. Let me know if you need anything. Any friend of Orrin's is a friend of mine." And he headed away from them.

"Who's Orrin?" Jax asked her as soon as Liam was out of earshot.

"A friend of a friend," said Valentina airily. "He's a major benefactor for the experiments the Unspeakables are doing-that's really all I know. My _friend_, Orrin's friend, he's the one who asked me to be here. He wants to know what Orrin is up to."

"Is that so?" Jax asked. Things were finally starting to get interesting.


	13. Chapter 13: Thea

**TRIGGER WARNING: Sexual harassment, bordering on assault (not graphic). Reader discretion advised. **

As soon as Thea and George headed out of the love room, Liam was waiting for them. "George, if you would go with my colleague, Marcus here, he'll get you sorted-that way Thea and I can finish our conversation." He was eyeing her the way he had been eyeing George earlier, and he wasn't after money this time.

She felt George tense beside her, and a part of her wanted to ask him to stay, to refuse to be alone with Liam because she could hear Liam's thoughts and knew what he wanted. But if she did that, it could blow their cover. She would just have to find another way out of this situation. "I'll be fine," she said softly so only George could hear her. She could only hope that she was right.

George nodded, though he didn't look happy about it. He turned toward Marcus. "Hey, Flint, long time no see. How've you been? I heard you had to attend Hogwarts an extra year. Umbridge flunk you?" he asked, following the former Slytherin to the other side of the room.

"Why don't we head into the love room?" Liam suggested.

Thea cringed. "Why don't we just talk out here?" Thea asked him, trying to keep her voice calm.

"What I have to say is private Unspeakables business," Liam told her, before grabbing her arm to steer her in the direction he wanted her to go in.

Thea stiffened, but Liam didn't appear to notice.

"Amor revelare," he said, pointing his wand at the doors, and the door to the love room popped open.

Thea tried to pull back, but Liam's grip on her arm tightened. "Come on now," he told her, pulling her into the room. He shut the door behind them.

When he released Thea, she stumbled away from him.

"Now then, where were we?" Liam asked.

Thea righted herself and took a step away from him. This was bad, very bad. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears. "Look, me wanting to be more involved in the department notwithstanding..." She managed to get out, despite feeling as if there was no air in her lungs.

"Come on, Thea. You wouldn't have dressed like that if you didn't want to rekindle our relationship."

Really? Why did guys think that women wore dresses just for them? Thea stepped back again, sucking in air and trying to keep calm. "Liam, I made it clear to you eight years ago that under no uncertain circumstances..."

"That was eight years ago, Thea." Liam moved closer. "Surely your opinion of me has changed now. We work together, and..."

Thea shook her head, backing into the fountain of Amortentia. "I watched you kill a house-elf the other day, watched you torture one today and yesterday. You haven't changed. The only thing that's changed is that you've seen me in a dress now."

Liam closed the remaining distance between them to put his arm around her. Thea flinched as his hand moved lower. She tried to move away, but he only held on tighter. "You're not going anywhere."

Thea's gaze darted toward the door, but she couldn't get there-not with Liam in the way. There was no choice. Thea pulled out her wand. "Flipendo," she said quietly. The spell did little more than knock Liam back a few feet and to the floor, but it was enough.

"You-you..." Liam sputtered at her.

"I know," said Thea. She could read his thoughts, and she knew exactly what he planned to do as the result of her little knockback jinx.

"You're going to regret that," Liam threatened from the floor.

"Maybe." Thea was still shaking as she headed for the door, opening it with a flick of her wand-and she very nearly ran into Jax.

"So that's where you keep disappearing to." He blinked, his expression changing from annoyance to concern in a heartbeat. "What happened?"

"Liam." She glanced over her shoulder. "Just look."

"Legilimens," Jax muttered, and after a moment, his eyes widened. "Go. I'll buy you some time-give you a head start."

"What about George?"

Jax shook his head. "Let me worry about George."

Thea nodded and made a beeline for the door. Only when she had reached it-and Burke, who was waiting to escort anyone out-did she look over her shoulder. Jax was trying to talk to Liam, but Liam was moving steadily away from him and across the room.

"Leaving already?" Burke asked.

Thea merely nodded. "You don't have to escort me-I know my way out."

Burke shrugged. "Okay sure." He really had no reason to be suspicious thankfully.

Stay calm. Stay calm, she told herself as she fought the urge to look over her shoulder.

Burke stepped aside, and Thea cast a non-verbal spell to find the correct door and headed for the lift. How long did it take to call the Aurors? She didn't want to wait to find out. Even with Jax attempting to stall Liam, she didn't think it would take him long.

As soon as she was out, she headed to a nearby alley, disillusioned herself, and disapparated.


	14. Chapter 14: George

While George spoke to Flint, he kept an eye on Thea as she crossed the room with Liam and went into the love room. George stiffened. Why the hell would she go anywhere alone with him? He had a bad feeling about this.

With every moment, George's anxiety grew, and then, "George!"

George blinked and turned back to Flint.

"I just asked you what time you can meet tomorrow to bring the money."

"Oh, uh, in the afternoon, I think. Around 12?" George turned to see Thea hurry out of the love room alone. Jax was there waiting for her.

"You really like her, don't you?" Flint smirked at him.

George turned back toward Flint. "Oh, I..."

"Flint, over here now."

George turned back to see Liam stalking across the room, Jax following in his wake. George shifted to look for Thea, finding her at the exit. What was going on?

George crossed the room to Jax-Liam had just managed to shake him off. "What happened?"

"Thea's in trouble," Jax whispered, pulling a bit of parchment out of his robes along with a muggle writing device that George believed was called a pen. "I managed to scrape up some more of the Peruvian Darkness Powder you said you wanted, but you have to go and pick it up. That's the address." He handed George the bit of parchment. "Get her somewhere safe. I'm going to see what I can do to stall Liam," he added in a whisper.

With that, he took off to try to catch up to Liam, and George didn't hesitate-even when he heard the decoy detonators go off. He headed for the exit.

The wizard from the phone booth-the one in the baggy muggle clothing-stood there waiting. "As interesting as this was, I do need to get going. I have to finish the inventory at the shop tonight."

The wizard shrugged and pointed his wand at the doors. "Exitus revelare."

"I can figure it out from here," George told him, wanting to get away from him and all the other Unspeakables.

The silvery-green floor seemed to glow eerily against the darker walls as George all but ran over to the lifts. Even if time had been on his side, he wouldn't have wanted to linger. It was creepy down here, and he wasn't ashamed to admit that he was far less comfortable in this hallway alone than with Thea by his side. She came down here every day?

The lift clanged to a halt in front of him, and he climbed in. The lift didn't move. How did they get this to work again? Oh, yeah. "Main floor," said George, and the lift jerked back and then up, sending George into the wall. He gripped one of the handrails tightly. Had he really found this amusing on the way down?

The lift jerked to a stop at the main level. "Main Atrium."

"Great, thanks," George muttered to the voice and headed back out. Now, where was the lift to get out? It only took a moment for him to find it, but twice as long for it to arrive. Come on...come on...why did everything seem like it was in slow motion when you were in a hurry?

George hurried out of the phone booth and ducked down an alleyway before unfolding the bit of parchment Jax had given him.

_45 Blyth Rd, Hayes UC 2_

Without hesitating George disapparated, reappearing near Hayes and Harlington Station. While he wasn't overly familiar with this area, he knew generally where he was going. Blyth Road...that should be...yes, it was just down the street from where he was. George followed the road a little ways...39...41...43...45. He had stopped in front of a huge muggle apartment complex. Did Jax have this right?

Shaking that off because he had no choice but to trust Jax, George made his way across the concrete, past planted trees in wooden boxes and small lighted posts to the entrance. There were signs with letters and numbers, and it took a moment for George to understand-the letters were floors, while the numbers were apartments.

He jogged up a set of grey steps. The modern building seemed cold to his eye, but Thea had spoken of science as well as magic earlier that evening so perhaps it suited her. Floor B...and up one more set of steps, Floor C. And the first apartment on his right was number 2. He took only a second to catch his breath, and then he knocked.

"It's open," came Thea's voice from inside.

George opened the door to find softer furnishings. A small, black leather couch was softened by blue and bronze pillows and a navy throw rug on the floor in front of it. She had used a lot of blues in her decorating scheme, which George assumed was a nod toward her house at Hogwarts. In fact, as he thought it, he spotted a small Ravenclaw banner on the side wall.

He took a step further inside. The kitchen was modern with sleek silver cabinets and appliances-muggle appliances, he assumed, as they weren't anything like what he was used to growing up with, but rather, were more like the things he tended to see in his father's workshop. His father had always liked tinkering with muggle objects-taking them apart to see how they worked and then putting them back together again, usually with a magical spell or two added.

George moved forward to examine them more closely when he saw a movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned, startled, to see that Thea had stepped out of the bedroom in a pair of long black shorts cutting off just below the knee and a grey hoodie that said _Cambridge University _across the front of it. She no longer wore the black heels from the expo, but rather, a simple pair of sneakers. She hadn't bothered to take the makeup off or to take her hair down, and there was a duffle bag over her shoulder.

"What's going on?" he asked her, shoving his hands into the pockets of his robe. "Jax said you were in trouble?"

"Liam is sending Aurors after me...for breaking my vow," Thea said quietly, heading over to a corner table where she retrieved the keys to her apartment.

While George thought it odd that she even had keys, this was a muggle complex, so he shrugged it off. "He found out?"

But Thea shook her head, shoving the keys into the pocket of her shorts. "No. He's angry with me about something else. Lies and deception are sort of his thing. Does Jax have a plan?"

George blinked at her. A plan? Jax had just told him to take her somewhere safe. George met Thea's gaze, and for the first time, he caught a flicker of fear in them. "We can go to my place," he suggested, but he knew that was a lame suggestion. Liam had known he had come with her to the expo-his place was probably the first place Liam would search for her after her apartment.

And then it hit him. He knew exactly where to take her. "Do you trust me?"

They could hear pounding feet coming from downstairs.

Thea's eyes met his. "Yes."

He reached out a hand for hers, and as soon as she took it, he disapparated, taking her with him. A crash echoed behind them, but they were already gone.

They reappeared on the steps of Number 12 Grimmauld Place, and George carefully opened the door, putting a finger to his lips as he did so.

Luckily, Thea needed no further instruction than that; when she followed him inside, she stayed quiet until he led her into the kitchen. "Sorry about that," he told her once he had gotten the lights on. "There's a portrait in the front hallway that will start screaming if we get its attention."

"Yeah, I can imagine why." Thea was looking around at the dark decor-the dishes and silver with the Black family crest on them. "We're at the old headquarters from the war, aren't we? From the Order of the Phoenix?"

"Yeah," said George looking over at her in surprise. She was slowly trailing the length of the room, appearing to just be taking everything in. "How did you know that?"

Thea stopped her perusal of the room and turned to look at him. "You'd be surprised what's in the history books."

"The history books." Of course, she knew about it because she had read a book, not because she had actually been involved.

Thea had turned back to examine the room, but she turned back to face him for some reason-no, not some reason-because she had heard his thoughts. "You think that I should've stayed...helped."

_Yes, she should have._

She sighed. "In the end, there was little we could do to help. We weren't connected to the order like you were. I didn't even know about the Battle at Hogwarts until after it was over. I don't know if we would have fought-I've said it before, and I'll say it again-I'm not a soldier, but I guess we'll never know because I didn't have the opportunity."

"Would you have fought had you had the option?"

Thea shook her head. "I don't know. I'd like to say yes, but I honestly don't think I would have. I didn't feel like I was part of the wizarding world any longer. I wouldn't have felt welcome had I shown up."

For a moment, George could only stare at her incredulously. For someone who had shown so much courage against Liam...he met her gaze. "That's why you didn't fight," he said softly. "It wasn't because of Jax's parents; it wasn't because you didn't feel welcome it was because of Liam, wasn't it? You lost hope after what he did, after he killed your parents, after the Prophet, and..." He trailed off. "Why did you drop it? Why did you let him get away with it?"

Thea turned away to focus on a serving platter, but George was pretty sure she wasn't really looking at it. She rubbed her left ankle absently with her right foot. "Please drop it." Her voice was quiet, and what was more concerning was that it shook.

"Thea..." George took a step closer to her, but she spun around so quickly that he stopped in his tracks.

"Please." She closed her eyes and a few tears fell down her cheeks. "I can't go there."

"Hey..." George took a few steps toward her to close the distance between them and just pulled her into his arms. Maybe it was the wrong thing to do, but she had been there for him when he had been grieving his brother's death, and he wanted to be there for her for whatever this was. "I'm sorry," he told her as she broke down on his shoulder. "It's not important right now. What's important is that you're safe. The Aurors won't find you here."


	15. Chapter 15: Jax

Jax had failed to catch up with Liam. Considering, he looked around the room. No one was paying attention to him. Jax reached into his pocket and pulled out a decoy detonator and dropped it. Right on cue, the detonators exploded, and people began screaming, running in every direction, most of them moving for the exit. Some of them made it, too, Jax noted, as he headed that way himself.

"Everybody freeze!"

Jax turned to see that Liam had amplified his voice. He took in the room to see that everyone had followed Liam's amplified suggestion.

"What is going on?" Liam bellowed at them, standing in the centre of the room.

"This, apparently," said one of the Unspeakables, picking up a detonator.

Liam rounded on Jax. "You. You were trying to distract me. Turn out your pockets."

"It wasn't me." Jax held up his hands. "I just wanted to talk to you about investing."

"Turn out your pockets," Liam demanded again, his face turning red with fury.

Jax shrugged and did as the man insisted, revealing parchment and the pen.

"What's this?" Liam scoffed, grabbing the pen out of Jax's hand.

"It's called a pen," said Jax with some amusement. "A muggle writing device. My work takes me into a lot of muggle towns, and I find them less cumbersome than a quill and ink."

Liam just scoffed at that and searched a few others, before apparently deciding it was a waste of time. "Go-get out of here!" he told them before motioning Nott and the Unspeakable who had found the detonator over.

Jax didn't wait. He knew what Liam was going to do and could only hope that George had gotten Thea somewhere safe during the distraction.

Security let him out with several other patrons, and they all waited in silence for the first lift. Jax resisted the urge to tap his foot in impatience. The lift finally came, taking them up to the main floor, just so they could wait for another lift to go outside.

Once they made it outside, Jax headed into a nearby alleyway-and he wasn't the only one. They all disapparated.

Jax reappeared in Diagon Alley and headed for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, though he wasn't sure whether or not to expect to find anyone there.

Just after he arrived though, George apparated in next to him. "Inside, I think?" he said before Jax could say anything.

Jax nodded as George cast the spell to unlock the door. The two went in, closing the door behind them.

"We should be quick as Thea suspects the Aurors will come here next after they're finished at her place." George glanced over his shoulder before turning to face Jax.

Smart thinking if the Aurors were on their way. "Is she safe?"

George nodded. "I have a few questions."

Jax sighed. "We can't stay here long," he warned.

"Just one question then," said George. "Why did Thea drop the whole thing about her parents? Why did she let Liam get away with it?"

Jax met George's gaze. "I don't know."

George rolled his eyes at that. "You know everything about her."

Jax shook his head. "That was the one thing I could never get her to tell me. I always suspected that she had been threatened, but she had been threatened before that, and it didn't make any difference." He looked over at George. "What did she do when you asked her?" Because he was guessing that the whole point of this conversation was because George had asked her, and she had refused to answer.

George swallowed and turned away. "She cried."

Jax nodded. "Then either she's really sensitive because it's all being brought up, or you pushed." Before he could begin to deduce which one it was, there was a knock at the door.

Their gazes locked, and Jax cast a silent disillusionment charm.

George went to answer the door.

There were two wizards standing there-a man with light brown hair and a goatee, and a woman with long dark hair. The wizard spoke, "Mr. Weasley?"

"Yes," said George.

"We're looking for Thea Walker," said the witch, holding up a badge that identified them both as Aurors. "It's our understanding that you know her?"

"Yes, but not well," said George crossing his arms and taking them both in, before relaxing. "Listen, what's this about? She just introduced me to her boss about a business deal-he wanted to purchase some items from my shop."

"It was my understanding that your shop has been closed down since the war?" the woman questioned him, glancing at him sideways.

"It is," said George, shifting to reach for an order form, which he handed to her. "But I still have a mail order, and a contract with the ministry would have helped-maybe even to the point that I could hire staff again to open the onsite shop."

"Have you seen her?" the wizard asked, with a yawn.

George shook his head. "Not since she introduced me to her boss this evening."

The man nodded, but the witch didn't seem satisfied.

"We heard voices as we walked up," she told him, leaning forward to try to get a glimpse inside his shop. "Who were you talking to?"

"I wasn't," said George, turning and pointing his wand at an old radio. It came on. "I was listening to the radio."

The wizard turned to look at the witch. "Happy?"

"Not really," said the witch, but the wizard ignored her and reached into the pockets of his robes to pull out a card which he offered to George.

"Very well," said the wizard. "Just be sure to give us a call if you hear from her."

George took the card. "Of course. Can I ask...why you're looking for her?"

The woman gave a one-shoulder shrug. "It's just a ministry matter that we need to resolve. We'll be in touch."

George nodded and closed the door when they turned to walk away.

Jax removed his disillusionment spell. "We need to get out of here-they can't find us together."

George signed. "I'll take you to my brother's...we need to talk to Harry before this goes any further." He offered his hand so he could lead Jax.

Jax took it, and the two of them disapparated, appearing in front of a small brownstone flat. George went right up to the door and knocked.

"See? I bet you that's them now," came Ron's voice an instant before he opened the door.

"Where's Thea?" Harry asked, coming up behind Ron with Ginny.

"Let us come in first," said George, looking over his shoulder and back at them. "If I'm seen here it could blow my cover."

They were led inside to a spacious living room, furnished with a red couch which faced the fireplace. A black leather chair faced a black leather ottoman and two red chairs that were behind the ottoman.

"What happened?" Harry demanded before any of them could even sit down.

"You know, I'm not really all that clear on that." George turned to Jax. "You were with Thea when everything happened."

"Thea's disguise worked...a little too well," said Jax quietly. "Liam decided to try it on with her, and he didn't like her answer."

George blinked and looked over at Jax. "He sent Aurors after her for that?"

"Wait, there are Aurors after Thea?" Harry asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Well, surely the Aurors wouldn't take that seriously, would they?" said Ron, sitting down in one of the red chairs.

Jax shook his head. If only. "He told them that she broke her vow, which technically she did, so it's not as if she can defend herself on the charges."

"Where's Thea now?" Hermione asked, coming into the room. "They didn't arrest her, did they?"

George shook his head. "Jax sent me to her place, and I took her to the old headquarters...from the Order of the Phoenix."

Harry's eyes widened. "She's at headquarters alone?"

"I didn't exactly have a lot of options." George sank down onto the black leather chair with a sigh.

Harry shook his head. "No, it's not your fault-it's mine." He sighed, turning away from them. "I should have set that up as a safe house to begin with." He shook his head again. "Well, let's head out there so we can figure out what to do next."


	16. Chapter 16: Thea

After George had left, Thea had intended to stay in the kitchen. It felt rude for her to explore someone's house when they were, first of all, not there and second, didn't even know she was there. But she had never been good at waiting.

The minutes ticked away, and finally,Thea couldn't stand it anymore. She got up from the table and headed back out into the hallway. There wasn't much on this floor-just the kitchen, a small half-bath, the creepy portrait of Walburga Black, and a staircase going both up and down.

After a moment of internal debate, Thea decided to go upstairs. The stairs were straight and steep and at the second landing, there was another hallway. She followed it down to find a small living room and an even smaller bedroom. Thea was about to head back to the staircase when she heard voices downstairs.

"Are you sure you brought her here?" she heard Ron ask.

"No, I took her to the other Order of the Phoenix headquarters," George sent back.

"How big is this house?" This time it was Jax.

"Eight bedrooms, four and a half baths," Harry answered.

Thea started down the steps. Might as well just face the music.

"Then she's here," said Jax. "She just decided to explore." He looked up as Thea appeared on the steps.

"Sorry," she told them, directing her apology at Harry. "I was alone in the kitchen..."

"And you couldn't resist exploring," Jax finished for her with a chuckle.

Thea couldn't help grinning. "Yeah, something like that."

"You just used to be better at not getting caught," Jax teased her.

At everyone else's questioning looks, Thea continued, "It's how Jax and I met actually. Neither one of us tended to pay much attention to curfew...we liked to explore the castle. We ran into each other one night during first year, and we became friends from there."

"Did you find any of the secret passages? Like the one behind..."

"Gregory the Smarmy?" Thea finished for George with a grin. "And the one-eyed witch, and the one near the astronomy tower." She ticked them off on her fingers to make sure she didn't forget any of them.

George grinned at her. "Did you find any others?"

Harry cleared his throat. "Maybe we should discuss our next move now, school secret passages later?"

"And in the kitchen," Ginny pointed out, and Thea remembered the screaming portrait.

"Right," George mumbled, looking down.

Thea said nothing, but her cheeks flushed, and she looked away as well.

They headed into the kitchen to sit around the table. "So, I've been filled in about the Aurors and why they're after Thea," Harry began. "What I haven't been filled in on was what happened at the expo regarding the house-elves. Thea, do you want to start, since I haven't heard anything from your side of the story?"

Thea opened her mouth and tried to tell them what had happened, but found that she couldn't. She closed her mouth, pausing for a moment, before trying one more time. Thea shook her head. "I can't."

"I'll tell it then," said George. His expression was concerned, as if he thought that it was too emotionally difficult for her. Before Thea could set him straight, he opened his mouth to tell Harry about the expo, but the result was the same. "I can't either."

"He's smarter than I thought," said Thea, shaking her head. "He cast a curse so we can't say anything about what happened there."

George shook his head, and Thea could tell he was confused. "But Jax was able to tell me what happened with you and Liam outside the main area. Maybe he's not affected."

Jax opened his mouth to try to say something, but Thea spoke up first. "You were at the expo. The spell must only be activated if we're trying to talk to someone not at the expo."

Jax tried again but shook his head. "She's right. I can't say anything now either."

"Well, then how are we supposed to do anything if we don't know bloody well what's happened?" asked Ron with an exasperated sigh.

"We need to figure out what he cursed." Thea tilted her head as she thought. "And then we need to get ahold of whatever it was." If she had the cursed item, she could break the curse, but she didn't think there was anything she could do without it.

"Come again?" Ron narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"It had to be something we all touched," said Thea, biting her lip. "Probably our passes to enter."

Hermione shook her head. "Even if you figure out what it was and somehow manage to bring it here, there's no way to break a curse like that."

"Not yet there's not," said Thea with a shrug.

"So, what, you're just going to create a spell? On the spot?" Hermione's voice was rising in pitch, indicating just how flustered she really was.

"Or a potion," said Thea. "A potion actually might be easier, and I can make that beforehand."

"But..."

Jax shook his head at Hermione. "This is what she does. If the spell can be lifted, she can do it."

"I just need potion ingredients," said Thea.

"Unfortunately, I don't have any here," Harry pointed out apologetically.

"I have some at my shop," George volunteered.

"Well, wait a minute," said Hermione, through narrowed eyes. "Even if she can do it, which I'm not entirely convinced of, how are we going to get these passes—that is if that's even what he cursed? None of us can get into the department."

"That's not entirely true," Thea, Jax, and George said at the same time. Thea glanced over at the two of them, a little confused. "I would just have to be invisible when I go in. How are the two of you planning on getting in?"

"To pay him," George said simply. "I'm supposed to meet him tomorrow to give him the money."

"In the Department of Ministries?" Thea asked.

George shrugged. "Well, we didn't really clarify that, but as we're meeting at the ministry, I'm assuming..."

Thea was nodding along with him now. "Then I'll just go in when he's meeting with you. I'll go in, pour the potion over whatever he cursed and get out, and leave when you leave."

"Do you really think I'm going to be enough of a distraction?" George asked. "There will be other Unspeakables around."

Thea shrugged. "If I'm invisible, the other Unspeakables won't matter." She sighed at their sceptical looks. "Look, Liam doesn't scare me...and neither do the other Unspeakables. I need to do this."

Harry cleared his throat. "Do any of you have any better ideas?" When no one said anything, Harry sighed. "Then I think we should go with Thea's plan. It's risky..." he looked over at Thea. "But you're sure you can do it?"

Thea nodded. "I am."

Harry nodded, satisfied with that. "In the meantime, maybe someone should stay here with Thea." His gaze landed on Ginny.

"What, me?"

"You're the only one of us not working right now," Harry pointed out. "George and Jax need to be available for their covers to hold up, and Ron, Hermione, and me all work at the ministry-we all need to be seen, but you don't. Quidditch practise doesn't start again for a few weeks." He took her hand to whisper something to Ginny that Thea couldn't hear, but his thoughts gave away the gist of it.

"Fine," Ginny said finally.

Everyone else started to disperse at that point-Hermione and Ron were the first ones to leave.

"You'll be fine," Jax assured Thea, before heading out.

Now it was just Thea, Ginny, George, and Harry. Harry spoke softly to Ginny, and Thea gave them their space as George approached her.

"I'm sorry about how everything turned out," George told her.

Thea offered him a small smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "It's not your fault."

"But still," he told her. "And you and Ginny will be fine here-I actually think you two will get along pretty well."

"She seems nice," Thea offered, wrapping her arms around herself. It was cold here in the basement, and even if it wasn't, she needed the comfort. A lot had happened.

"Listen, I should probably go."

Thea followed George's gaze to see that Harry was at the doorway of the kitchen, waiting. She turned back to George as he continued.

"I'll bring by some potion supplies tomorrow, and then we can head over to the ministry, so you can find those passes," George told her, shoving his hands into the pockets of his robes again.

Thea nodded. "Thank you...for everything."

Then George followed Harry out, leaving Thea and Ginny alone in the kitchen.


	17. Chapter 17: George

The next morning, George awoke to the sun streaming into his bedroom. He tossed aside his covers and stood, looking out the window at Diagon Alley. The street was quiet in the early hours of the morning, and for a moment, George just enjoyed the silence. He never would have thought that a quiet morning would be something he would enjoy-he and Fred had preferred the loud and flashy, although that had been Fred slightly more than him. Even his room was more subdued, using black and grey against the bright orange.

Fred had hated it-said that the colours were too dull, but George had thought they struck a good balance. Fred had always liked the orange, and while George had never disliked it, he wanted something more subtle for his bedroom.

He wished that Fred was here. There was so much that he wanted to tell him...to talk about. Thea for one-and this whole business with Liam and the Unspeakables for another.

While he didn't necessarily think that Liam's experiments were connected to what had happened eight years ago, he did think it would help to know the whole story. He also knew that Thea wasn't about to share. Her breakdown the night before made that very clear. He didn't know if it was just too painful for her to talk about or if there was some other reason she was keeping the details of what happened after her parents' murder a secret.

Shrugging that off, George moved over to his closet to get ready for the day. Once he was ready, he headed out to the kitchen to begin searching for potion ingredients that Thea might need. Granted, he had no idea what she might need for something like this, so he packed a little bit of everything, along with a cauldron, ladle, and a set of scales. With that, he headed outside and disapparated, reappearing just outside 12 Grimmauld Place. He opened the door and made his way inside.

Thea and Ginny were easy to find-they were in the kitchen cooking breakfast, but they stopped talking as soon as he came into the room.

"I'll just take my breakfast upstairs," said Ginny, with a knowing grin, heading out with her plate to leave Thea and George alone in the kitchen.

George could only shake his head. His sister wasn't exactly subtle. "I brought a cauldron and potion supplies," he told Thea, setting the bag on the counter before turning to face her. For a moment, he just took in her features—she really was beautiful—he didn't know how he hadn't noticed that before. She looked tired and a bit sad—not that that was unexpected given the circumstances. "How are you holding up?" he asked her.

"Okay," said Thea. "Ginny and I were just making breakfast." She gestured toward plates of eggs, toast, and bacon. "You can help yourself," she told him, taking a plate for herself.

"Thanks." George grabbed a plate. "But that isn't what I meant." He added some of each-eggs, toast, and bacon-to his plate before following her over to the table. "How are you doing with everything that's been going on?"

Thea sighed, picking at her eggs. "Well, let's see...Liam is killing house-elves, and I'm out of a job because I don't want to date him again. I'm great; thanks for asking."

George couldn't help himself—he laughed, and about a second later, Thea joined him in his laughter. "Sorry," he said, "it's not really funny, but..."

Thea shook her head. "I know." She let out a sigh. "It's just either we laugh about it, or...or I don't know. Scream?"

"I wouldn't blame you if you did scream." George wasn't really sure if he was serious or joking so kept his tone light either way. "Go ahead—let one out right now."

Thea chuckled but shook her head. "I'm okay, really, but thank you for this. I needed a laugh."

"Well, that is something I'm always happy to provide," said George with a grin.

For a few minutes, they sat there in comfortable silence eating eggs and bacon before George decided to broach the subject of Liam. "I know it's hard to talk about, but I think it would make it easier to help you if we knew why you dropped your case against Liam-why you let him get away with it."

For a moment, Thea just sat there, taking a few deep breaths, but then she got up and took her plate over to the counter. "I should get started on that potion."

George followed her, leaving his plate at the table, and came to stand behind her. "You barely ate anything." He paused. He was standing close to her, but he didn't touch her-he wasn't sure if she would welcome his touch or if it would cause her to freak out even more. "I don't know what happened back then," he said quietly. "I don't know who threatened you," because it was clear that someone had threatened her by the way she was acting, "but there's only so much we can do if we don't know the whole story."

Thea turned to face him, her expression more wary than afraid.

George didn't move, deciding to just wait her out.

"I can't tell you," she whispered.

"We aren't going to let anything happen to you," George assured her. "No one can hurt you here."

Thea shook her head. "Not me," she murmured.

It was like a lightbulb going off. Of course, they hadn't threatened her. He remembered her story back then that she had received threats for speaking the truth about what had happened, so naturally, if threatening her hadn't worked, they must have threatened someone else—and George had a pretty good idea who. "They threatened Jax, didn't they?" It was funny considering how protective Jax seemed to be of her. How would he react to find out that Thea had been the one protecting him all along?

Thea sucked in a breath. "For starters. And they can back up the threats. Please, I can't tell you anymore."

"We're gonna to fix this," he told her, his tone gentle. "I need to tell Harry."

Thea was silent for a moment, but then she nodded. "Just let me be the one to tell Jax."

George nodded. "That's fair. I'll tell Harry but ask him to keep it to himself, so you can tell everyone else." He glanced past her to her still nearly full plate. "Try to relax, maybe finish your breakfast. I'll be back with the others."

Thea rolled her eyes. "You know the only reason I let Jax get away with his protective crap is because it makes him feel better. He had a hard time watching me go through everything—this makes him feel less helpless. I put up with it from him, but I don't want or need another protector."

"Noted," said George. "You don't need to be protected, and you're not fragile."

Thea narrowed her eyes. "That's what I just..."

Before she had a chance to finish her sentence though, George closed the small distance between them and kissed her, wrapping his arms around her as he did. He didn't hold her there for long, just long enough to make his point before releasing her. "I've wanted to do that since I saw you that dress last night, but I figured that wasn't the best time. But you're right-you're not fragile, and I'm not going to treat you like you are."

For a moment, she just watched him, taking that in, and then: "I suppose I had that coming."

He looked over at her before starting to laugh. "You know, you tend to know the exact right thing to say."

Thea chuckled at that.

"I should go," said George, reaching out to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear, "but I'll be back with Harry and Jax at the very least." He leaned in to kiss her again, briefly, before heading out.

George went straight to the Burrow. He would've gone to the ministry, but somehow, he wasn't so sure he should be seen there, especially not with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. If he was followed (and he had taken precautions to ensure he wasn't), then it would be simple enough to remind them of Ginny's visit a few days earlier, when he had promised her he would come to Burrow for dinner. He would just say that he was keeping a promise. Of course, the only wrinkle with that was that Ginny wasn't there—she was at 12 Grimmauld Place with Thea, but he could just say he didn't know.

Mum was out feeding the chickens when George arrived. "Mum!" he called out to her.

"Oh, hello, George." She turned toward him as he closed the distance between them. She wrapped her arms around him. "I've been worried about you," she murmured.

"Mum!" George sighed. Everyone had been worried about him, and he was getting tired of it.

She released him. "I was happy to hear that you spent time with Ginny, Ron, Harry, and Hermione the other day though. You've been spending way too much time alone."

"Mum," he said again. "Look, I know you're just trying to look out for me, but it really doesn't help." Now he understood why Thea objected to everyone's protective behaviour. "Sometimes I need to be alone, and I need to heal in my own way and in my own time."

Mum offered him a small smile and reached out to tuck a strand of his hair behind his ear. "You do, don't you? Something's changed since I last saw you, hasn't it?"

"I'm working on a project with Ginny, Ron, Harry, and Hermione," he told her, feeling it was best if he didn't mention Thea. "Anyway, I need to get in touch with Harry, but I can't go to the ministry. Do you think you can reach out to either him or Ron...or maybe Hermione?" Hermione was the one with her own office after all. "Get one or all of them here?"

"Of course," she told him. "Come inside. I'll make some sandwiches and some tea."

It didn't take long for Ron, Harry, and Hermione to arrive, and soon, they all sat around the table with sandwiches and tea. Ron had already eaten a sandwich, while Harry and Hermione each had one in front of them. George stuck with tea since he had just eaten breakfast with Thea.

"I'll just leave you four alone," Mum told them, and she headed out of the room.

"So, what did you find out?" Harry asked.

"I found out why Thea dropped the whole thing with Liam back at Hogwarts," George told them.

The other three went silent at this.

"But I thought even Jax couldn't get her to tell him why that was," Ron asked, his mouth stuffed full of sandwich, so it sounded more like this: "Buh I thogh iffin Jax connin geher to tell 'im why atwas."

"That's because the people who wanted her to stay quiet threatened Jax—not her," said George.

"Well, it makes sense," said Hermione. "We know they threatened her, but that it didn't work." Leave it to Hermione to have done the research. "It only makes sense that they would have tried something else after that."

"Well, the thing is," said George, "that Jax doesn't know. I'm going to go find him after this and bring him to Grimmauld Place, but Thea's asked to be the one to tell him, so none of you can say anything."

Shortly after that, George returned back to Diagon Alley to where Jax was staying in one of the rooms above the Leaky Cauldron. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had gone back to the ministry, but they would all be meeting back at Grimmauld Place in an hour.

It was easy enough to gain entry to the rooms upstairs, and George knocked on Jax's door.

Jax opened it, his eyes slightly glazed over. He looked more bored than anything else, and when his eyes lit up at seeing another human being, George took that to mean that his guess was right: Jax wasn't used to being holed up in a hotel room by himself.

"Can I come in?" George asked.

"Of course," said Jax, stepping aside to let George in. "Has there been a break in the case?" he asked, closing the door behind them.

"You could say that," said George. "I know why Thea dropped her original case against Liam."

Jax looked at him expectantly, but George didn't say anything. "Well?"

George shook his head. "I can't tell you."

"Well, then why tell me that you even know?"

"I can't tell you because I'm supposed to bring you to Grimmauld Place, so Thea can tell you. It was her one condition in all of this."

"Okay, well, then, let's go," said Jax, and they both headed out.


	18. Chapter 18: George

While Jax was anxious to find out it was Thea had been keeping from him all those years ago, he was also anxious. What if it was something he should have figured out?

When they went inside, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all in the kitchen. They stopped talking when Jax poked his head in.

"She's upstairs with Ginny," Ron told him.

Jax headed up the stairs, fearing that Thea would be on the top floor—that's where she had been staying anyway, but he heard voices once he reached the next floor landing.

The girls trailed off as Jax came into the room.

"I'll see you downstairs," said Ginny, heading out.

Jax sat down on the couch next to Thea. "So, what's going on?" He asked her hesitantly. How many times had he asked her that over the years? At least now, he could reasonably expect an answer—or so he had been told.

Thea was quiet for a moment. "You have to understand that I couldn't tell you before, but now...now I'm afraid that it's going to come out anyway, and I'd rather be the one to tell you—I'd rather you find out from me, so you can take precautions."

"Precautions?"

Thea stood to pace away from him.

Jax stood but didn't follow her. He was about to ask her again what was going on when she turned back towards him.

"Jax, the reason I dropped my case against Liam is because the people behind him...the people who arranged it...they threatened you and your family," Thea told him.

Jax could only stare at her. They had threatened him? How had he missed that?

"They made me swear not to tell, and I was afraid they would hurt you or your parents if I said anything."

_She was afraid they would hurt him or his parents._ "So, this whole time...when I thought I was protecting you..." Jax frowned. "...you were protecting me?"

Thea sighed and sat down next to him. "I only let you get away with all that protective stuff because I knew it made you feel better."

Jax shook his head. She would have known. "You shouldn't have dropped it. We could have worked it out."

"No, we couldn't have."

Jax stood spun away from her. There had to be something that he could have done, some way he could have helped if she had just told him.

"It isn't your fault, you know," Thea said softly.

He turned to look over at her, still sitting there on the couch. She always did know too much-even before she had learned how to read minds.

"I made a choice," she continued, "your life over getting justice, and I would do it again."

Jax sank back down onto the couch, his shoulders sagging a bit in defeat. "It's not fair," he told her.

Thea sighed. "Of course, it's not fair, but that doesn't change anything." She put a comforting hand on his arm. "What's done is done. I can't get justice for my parents' murders, but I can stop Liam from killing more house-elves-so that's what I'm going to do."

Jax straightened and met her gaze. "Who threatened you?"

Thea shook her head. "I can't tell you that."

"Things are different now," Jax insisted. Though what was different, he didn't know. They were adults now instead of just kids, but somehow, he didn't think that Thea would see it that way.

"No, they aren't," Thea told him. "The only thing different is that now you know why I can't tell you."

A few moments later, Jax and Thea headed back downstairs to join the others at the kitchen table. The others all stopped talking when they came in, and Harry focused on Thea once she and Jax had joined them at the table. "So, what do you want to do?"

Thea shrugged. "I think you should be asking Jax that, but personally, I think he should stay here."

"Don't I get a say in this?" Jax asked her. The idea of being stuck at Grimmauld Place with Thea was only marginally better than being stuck in a hotel room, and that was because here, he wouldn't be alone.

Thea looked over at him. "Of course, you do. But I can't do anything unless I know you're safe. I would have been happy if none of this ever had to come up, but if what's happening now is connected to what happened before, then we need to do something, but we can't unless you stay here because they'll go after you." She turned toward Harry. "The fact is that everyone needs to take precautions. If they can't get to Jax, they'll go after anyone who they think might get to me."

"Why would you care if anything happened to any of us?" Ron asked.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous," she said. "Of course she cares about what happens to us."

"It's true," Thea said softly. "The fact is, if this is connected, they'll try to draw me out at some point. And when that time comes, maybe we should consider letting them."

_Consider letting them?_ What, was she crazy? Jax turned towards her. "Why on earth would we do that?"

"Because they need me alive," said Thea. "I don't know why or what for, but I know that it's true...they've essentially told me as much. Letting them find me might be the best way to figure out what they're up to, figure out what their end game is, and then we can stop them. Besides, we aren't even there yet. I just know that some of us," she looked pointedly at Jax as she said it, "are going to need some time to come to terms with the idea."

"And what about the passes?" Hermione asked. "I suppose you've given up on them?"

Thea shook her head. "Of course not." She stood and went to the counter to retrieve a vial. "I'm ready to go whenever you are," she told George, who stood to go with her.

"Well, hang on just a minute," said Jax. "You still haven't told us anything about what happened back then."

"Because I can't tell you," Thea told him.

Jax rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, they'll kill me, but we've already established that I'm staying here, so how exactly are they going to kill me then?"

Thea sighed and sat back down in her seat, focusing on Jax. "I can't tell you because there's a taboo of sorts on the information."

"Of sorts?"

Thea turned toward Harry to answer his question. "It's not the same as the taboo from the war but similar. Like that taboo, it will wipe out protective spells, but they also have a means of tracking me." She lifted up her pant leg to reveal a small rune.

Jax opened his mouth to translate it, but Thea shook her head.

"I'm pretty sure if you say it, it will activate it—it's a tracking rune."

Jax sat back, examining the rune but also thinking back. There were so many things that hadn't made sense back then but that were starting to make sense now. "This is why you took Ancient Runes," he said softly. "You never liked the class—I could tell from your bored expression during Professor Babbling's lectures. You were more interested in exploring the text on your own—you wanted to know what this meant. You could have just asked," he pointed out. Ancient Runes had been his best and favourite subject at Hogwarts. He would have gladly helped her if she had just asked.

"That would have involved me telling you what was going on, and I couldn't, remember?" Thea dropped her pant leg.

Jax conceded the point, but he started considering all of the other choices she had made back then. "You knew. You knew that something was going to happen—it's why all those long nights and weekends in classrooms practising spells, making potions—and practising legilimency."

Thea nodded. "The person in charge of this is a legilmens—I was just trying to even the odds."

"And Christmas...our fourth year," Jax continued. It had to be. "That has to be when they threatened you...threatened me," he corrected. "Although, I don't know how they could have gotten to you without me knowing about it."

"Your mother had called you in for something, so I was outside alone—it was just for a few minutes, but it was enough."

"You've been preparing for this for eight years," said George, looking over at her almost admiringly. "And we've been running around trying to protect you when you were very clear that you wanted help, not protection."

Jax looked from Thea to George and back again. Something had happened—he was sure of it. The way George was looking at her wouldn't have concerned him, but Thea was looking back. The last time Thea had let a guy in in any sort of romantic fashion had been when she had dated Liam. The last thing he wanted was for her to get hurt again.

"We should probably get going," George continued, eyeing him warily. "They'll be waiting for me at the ministry."

Thea nodded, and everyone began to disperse, leaving Jax alone with Ginny.

"It's not your fault, you know," Ginny told him once they had all left.

Jax shook his head. "I should have figured it out."

"How?" Ginny demanded. "She didn't need someone to figure it out eight years ago-she just needed someone to believe her. I think that if you had figured it out back then, it would have made things worse for her."

Jax was quiet for a moment. She was right. How would she have reacted back then? Would it have broken her completely knowing that he could have been at risk for having figured it out?

Even so, he still felt some responsibility for this situation. "I should have figured it out now-after everything started again with Liam."

Ginny shook her head. "Why would you have thought of it? This isn't on you."


	19. Chapter 19: Thea

They appeared in an alleyway just down the street from the ministry, and Thea made sure to keep close to George.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" George whispered.

"Positive," Thea whispered back, though now that she was here, she was a little less confident in their plan. "You probably shouldn't talk to me though because people will think you're talking to yourself," she added.

George chuckled at that. "You have a point." George headed out of the alleyway, and Thea followed close behind. When they reached the red phone booth, Richard Burke was waiting as he had the night before. Today, he was wearing an athletic club tee shirt, faded jeans with holes in the knees, and an Adidas ball cap. If the situation wasn't so serious, it would be laughable how much Liam tried to keep up with muggle fashions-Thea was pretty sure that Liam had picked out Burke's outfits.

"George," Burke greeted, offering his hand to shake, which George took and did briefly shake, before following Burke into the lift.

Thea only had a split second to make a choice-to go down with them, or wait and hope that Burke didn't come back up.

No. Thea shook her head silently to herself. Both were too risky. She would have to risk going through the employee entrances. She headed around the corner and looked over her shoulder to make sure no one could see her, before she headed into an alcove where the fireplaces were.

A few witches and wizards were heading out-probably taking their lunch breaks. Thea had to jump back to avoid them. They looked around, looking for whatever had made the small scuffle, but ultimately shrugged it off and headed on their way.

Thea let out a sigh of relief. Now that the coast was clear, she was able to pick up some ashes and stepped into the flue to transport her inside. "Main Atrium," she said quietly.

The flames burst up and then she was gone, reappearing inside the ministry. There were people bustling around, like the witches and wizards she had nearly run into outside, heading out for their lunches. It was like playing Frogger, but instead of trying to dodge cars, she was dodging people. If any one of them ran into her, that would be it-she would be caught, and the Aurors would take her to Azkaban-or worse. She didn't doubt that the Elite had Aurors on their payroll.

It took her a few moments, but Thea managed to make it through the crowd unscathed. She headed for the lift. It was just arriving as she got there, and luckily, there were more people getting off than on. There was just the problem of getting the lift to go where she wanted it to.

She took in those on the lift with her-Enid Barnes, Lana Owens, and Randall Carr...none of them worked on her floor. She was going to have to get creative.

Thea took a breath and closed her eyes. Focusing on Enid's thoughts, she did something that she had never done before-she created a memory-a memory of Burke's wife, flirting with another man at the Leaky Cauldron. It was innocuous enough that it would hopefully not cause too big of an issue between the couple, but juicy enough that with a little push, Enid would be dying to head down to the Department of Mysteries to tell Burke. Enid was known for being a gossip.

It didn't take long to see that Thea's plan had worked.

"Oh!" said Enid. "I forgot, I have to go down to Level Nine-Richard Burke works there, and I just saw his wife..."

Thea waited as Enid rambled out her story to Lana. The lift stopped, and Randall got out, but Lana hesitated.

"Oh, go on," said Enid. "Let old Hester know that I'll be along in a few minutes."

Thea wanted to let out a sigh of relief as Lana stepped off of the lift but didn't for fear that it would get her caught.

"Department of Mysteries," said Enid, and the lift started to move again. After a moment, it stopped on Level Nine, and Enid got out, followed by Thea. Enid hurried into the atrium, and Thea followed.

Burke was just leaving.

"Richard!" Enid called out. "I was looking for you. I just saw your wife..."

Thea didn't stay to hear the story she had planted but used Richard's distraction to cast the non-verbal spell to find the Death Chamber. The door popped open, and she headed inside.

George was in the centre of the room with Liam near the dais, and it didn't appear that either noticed the door opening by itself. Good. That had been a lucky break.

The other Unspeakables were working with a house-elf in one corner of the stone circle, at the base of the steps, but Thea refused to look. She couldn't help the elf that way. The only way she could help the elf was by finding the entry passes.

She looked around each of the stone benches along the outside of the room, before resigning herself to having to join everyone else in the centre. She had hoped to avoid that, because the chances of her running into anybody increased the closer she got to them. Each step she took down the concrete steps had to be slow for fear that her shoe might tap on the stone and draw attention. She held her breath as she made it down the last step and began maneuvering between Unspeakables, careful to stay away from Liam and George.

"I'm just not clear on how you intend to bring someone back from the dead," she could hear George saying as she searched one corner. No passes there.

"But, but," sputtered Liam, "you saw...with the house-elf..."

No passes in the next section. Thea was getting closer to George and Liam.

"I saw a house-elf survive all manner of things because you ordered it to," said George, "but what I didn't hear was an explanation on how you intend to apply that to bringing a human being back from the dead."

"Well, that's what the research is for," said Liam. Still no passes. Thea passed by them, staying nearer to George. At least George knew there was someone invisible here, and if she accidentally bumped into him, he could cover. Luckily though, Thea didn't run into anyway and started making her way to the opposite side of the room.

"I don't know," said George. "You're asking for a lot of money, but you're not really offering anything in return."

Still no passes. Thea had searched most of the room.

"Well, I don't know what to tell you then," said Liam, irritation in his voice. "We are still in the early stages of our research. If you want to see your brother again, you should get in early, so he can be put at the top of the list—otherwise, there are other people who will be given the priority."

"Let me ask you something," said George, "has anyone actually given you money yet?"

Liam got quiet.

"That's what I thought," said George. "Come find me when you have more to go on."

Thea looked over her shoulder to see George starting to head out. She hurriedly checked the last section before running after him, nearly slipping on the stone benches. She caught up to George in the hallway and gripped his arm.

He nearly jumped out of his skin.

"It's me," she whispered.

"Did you find them?" George whispered back.

"Let's get out of here first," said Thea. And the two headed for the lift. It was empty, but the hallway in the main atrium wasn't. Thea followed George to the visitor's exit, and they headed out, and George headed straight for a nearby alley.

"You still there?" he asked.

"I am," said Thea, reaching out to grip his arm. "Let's get out of here." They apparated back to Grimmauld Place, and it wasn't until they were safely inside that Thea lifted the disillusionment charm.

They found Jax and Ginny in the kitchen.

"How did it go?" Jax asked.

Thea sat down at the table. "Well, the good news is that I didn't get caught. The bad news is that I couldn't find the passes."

"Well, Jax is going to the ministry next, right?" Ginny asked as George took the seat next to Thea. "You can just go in with him and try again."

Thea shook her head, again, and took a breath. "I don't think they're at the ministry."

Jax looked over at her, narrowing his eyes. "Where do you think it is?"

"Do you think it's with..." George began, but Thea cut him off.

"Don't say it." She sighed. "But yes, I think it might be." A part of her had known, from the very first instant of Liam throwing Zelda the house-elf into the dais, that this went deeper. Liam very rarely did anything on his own. He had been the leader of his group of friends at Hogwarts, but it had been more like he was the mouthpiece of the group, while Nott had been the brains. He never would have thought to experiment on house-elves to try to bring someone back from the dead—someone had had to have tipped him off on that, and she knew exactly who.

"Thea!"

Thea blinked and looked over at Jax who had apparently been trying to get her attention while she had been lost in thought. "Sorry."

Jax shook his head. "I was just saying that I don't think it's a good idea for you to let them catch you."

"I know," said Thea, "but It's also what needs to be done. I also wish you would reconsider going back to the ministry. It would be a good opportunity for them to go after you."

"I'll be safe at the ministry," Jax assured her.


	20. Chapter 20: Jax

Despite Thea's protests, Jax headed out to the ministry alone. It was a risk leaving the headquarters, but he was supposed to meet with Liam, and he wanted to help. It was the least he could do considering that he apparently had been no help to Thea the last eight years.

He disapparated from the top step at Grimmauld Place and reappeared in an alley.

"I'm told it's probably not safe for you to be out here," came a female voice, and Jax turned to see Valentina standing there.

"What are you doing here?"

"Did I happen to mention that I know a seer?"

Jax raised an eyebrow. "Do you now? Did he happen to mention what would happen if I went into the ministry today?"

Valentina shook her head. "No. He just sent me to go with you." With a wave of her wand, she vanished from sight.

Jax blinked.

"I'm still here," she told him. "It's just better if they don't know I'm here with you."

Jax shrugged at that. He didn't know if it was something to worry about, but he was grateful for the backup.

When Jax arrived at the visitor's entrance of the Ministry for Magic, the Unspeakable with the unfortunate choice of muggle-style clothing was waiting. "Jax!" He called out. "Good to see you again!"

Jax merely nodded and allowed him to lead the way down into the ministry and all the way down to the ninth level and the Department of Mysteries. Even in the daylight, the walls and floor had an eerie green glow that was downright spooky.

He followed the wizard into the main atrium of the department, casually looking over his shoulder as if to look for Valentina, even though he knew he wouldn't be able to see her.

The unfortunately dressed wizard cast the spell to reveal the door to the Death Chamber, and as soon as they walked in, Jax saw Liam at the centre of the room, with the dais and an elf.

Liam looked up at them. "Ah, Burke. A word if you will?" Liam took the stone steps two at a time and reached Jax and Burke in a matter of seconds. "Jax, feel free to make yourself at home," he said, gesturing for Jax to go down the steps to where he had been working. "Obviously you are going to want to stay clear of the dais, but then I think you know that already," he said with a laugh, before turning to speak to Burke.

Jax frowned and looked over at the space where he hoped Valentina still occupied before making his way down the stairs. While this did make it easier for him to snoop around, it just seemed a bit too easy. Why would Liam allow him to go down here unattended?

"Maybe it has something to do with this?" Valentina whispered, holding up a small book. She was still disillusioned, so it looked as if the book was floating in midair.

"Put that down." Jax grabbed the book, glancing over his shoulder, but Liam and Burke were still occupied and apparently, hadn't seen the floating book. Jax looked down at the book in his hands: _The Book of the Elite. _He glanced over his shoulder again, but Liam and Burke were still talking, and then Jax pulled out his wand. Tapping it against the book, he muttered a few words, trying to determine if there were any hexes protecting the book. There weren't. Jax pointed his wand at the book again. "Geminio," he whispered, and an exact duplicate of the book appeared next to it.

"Nice," said Valentina.

Jax shook his head. "You're going to get us caught," he muttered. While he was grateful for the backup, it wouldn't do him much good if she got caught with all the noise she was making.

Jax looked over his shoulder again to see that Liam and Burke were still busy, before grabbing the original book. "Diminuendo," he whispered and stuffed the miniature book into his robes, before replacing it with the duplicate. He turned just in time to see Liam turn from Burke and start down the steps, while Burke headed out of the room.

"Now then," said Liam, "did you bring the galleons we had discussed?"

Jax shook his head. "We didn't actually discuss galleons. Last we spoke you insulted and accosted me. Did you ever find out who was behind the decoy detonators?"

Liam pursed his lips and all but stuck his nose in the air. "No. Unfortunately, there was no evidence linking the detonators to anyone. We have our theories though."

Jax raised an eyebrow. "We? Who's we?"

"Oh," Liam blinked, "just us Unspeakables here."

"Oh," said Jax with a shrug, "I just thought it might have something to do with the Elite." Jax looked down at the book he had replaced.

"Oh, yes." Liam picked up the book and tucked it under his arm. "Sorry, I had forgotten that I left that there." But his expression was more satisfied than anything else, which told Jax that he was lying. "Now," Liam continued, "I believe we were discussing galleons."

"I have some questions first," said Jax.

Liam sighed impatiently. "Yes, what is it? Didn't the expo tell you everything you needed to know?"

Jax shoved his hands into his pockets. "Actually, the expo didn't tell me much of anything. How are you intending to use house-elf magic to bring someone back from the dead?"

Liam sighed again. "It's a complicated scientific procedure. We don't explain it to donors. Just know that we will bring people back—we just need funds to do it."

Jax crossed his arms. "I hear you, but I'm not giving you money until I know what it's for."

"I've already told you!" said Liam.

"No, you didn't," Jax told him. "I'll show myself out." And he headed for the door.

"What if I can get you a meeting with the guy in charge?"

Jax turned back toward Liam, whose eyes looked almost wild. "Aren't you the man in charge?"

"Here, yes," said Liam, "but I have someone that I answer to as well."

"I suppose that's a start," said Jax. "Set up the meeting, and then we'll talk." And he turned and headed out of the department.


	21. Chapter 21: Thea

Thea sat on one of the old leather couches in the living room, with her legs stretched out across the seat as she read-or tried to read the mystery novel she had purchased just before this entire mess with Liam started.

George sat on the second couch, which faced the one she was sitting on. He was reading a book he had gotten off of one of the shelves-Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy-although she was pretty sure that it was just so he had an excuse to be in the room with her while she was reading. She hadn't thought that he cared about genealogy, and her legilimency told him that he wasn't really interested in the book.

Ginny was in her room down the hall, mostly to give Thea and George some time alone together, and Thea didn't know how she felt about that. It wasn't that she didn't like George-at the very least, he made her laugh, which was something she hadn't done much of, over the last few years. But the idea of allowing someone in after everything Liam had put her through-was still putting her through...she just didn't know if she could do it. She didn't know if she could ever trust anyone like that again. There was a reason why she and Jax stuck so close together-they had learned the hard way what came of trusting the wrong person. Besides...she was too focused on trying to stop Liam and the Elite.

Thea might have wanted to pretend that the Elite had nothing to do with what Liam was up to, but there was no way that was the case. Admittedly, Thea didn't know much about the Elite other than that they needed her for something and that they operated in secrecy, would go as far as threatening the people close to her to protect those secrets. They had the passes-she was sure of it.

She peered at George over the top of her book. She knew that the others meant well and were trying to help, but they had reached the point where there was very little more they could do-she had to do it. She needed to let them find her. It wasn't going to go over well-she knew that, but she had to try.

Thea set her book aside and swung her legs around, so she was sitting facing George, with her feet planted on the floor. He looked up, and Thea took a breath. "I need your help with something."

George mirrored her, setting aside the book and shifting to face her. "What do you need?" he asked, looking relieved that she had broken the silence.

Thea took another breath. Apparently, all she had had to do was to say something, anything, and she had his full attention, but now was the hard part. "I need to leave here."

George blinked at her, surprise evident in his features. "Why?"

She kept her gaze steady on him, trying to read his reactions as she spoke. "Because I think I can get those passes, and I think I'm the only one who can."

"You're planning to let them capture you."

Thea nodded, but narrowed her eyes in suspicion. That was exactly what she had been planning, and that was what she was trying to tell him, but his reaction was too calm. He had just said it matter of factly-no argument, no anger, no trying to convince her otherwise.

"What's the matter?" he asked her.

Thea shook her head. "You're not trying to talk me out of it."

George shrugged and relaxed against the back of the sofa. "Would it do any good?"

Thea shook her head. "No, but that wouldn't have stopped any of the others."

"I'm not any of the others," George told her, before straightening to look her straight in the eye. "If I thought you were just planning on getting captured, without a plan, to protect everyone, then I would argue, and I'd try to stop you. But I think you do have a plan, and I want to hear what it is before I argue with you or try to stop you."

Thea raised an eyebrow, impressed by his answer. As she had said, anyone else would have argued with her-that it wasn't safe, that it wasn't smart, but George wanted to hear her out. "I would tell you everything about then-not here, but at my apartment. It's a logical place for them to look for me, and it keeps everyone else out of it. The rune will alert them, and they will come for me. I'll hide the potion on me or have it somewhere nearby where I can conjure it from, so when they take me to wherever they are based, I can find the passes and use the potion to get rid of the curse. That way, you and Jax can fill everyone else in on what happened at the expo."

George was frowning. "And how are you planning on getting out after that's all over?"

"I have a way of sending a message. I'll be able to reach out to get help if I'm not able to get out on my own." Thea paused there, watching as he took that in, hoping that he would accept her vague explanation. If she had to demonstrate, she would have to call Ginny in and let her in on the plan, but that was something that she didn't want to do.

"Are you sure you can get out?" he asked her. "Sure that you'll be able to send that message?"

"Yes," Thea told him. "And there's really not another way. I know that the passes will be there-and they will take me there, but they won't take any of you there."

George sighed, and she could tell he didn't like it.

"Are you going to argue with me now?"

George shook his head. "I think you might be right-you need to be the one to go, but I think we need to discuss this with the others-see what they think."

Thea stood and paced away from him. "You said it yourself-they would argue with me. Jax especially will try to protect me."

George got up and followed her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "And if they do that, if they refuse to listen or discuss it, I'll help you work around them. What I won't do is help you sneak off without at least trying to talk to them first." He pulled his hand back.

Thea turned to face him, surprised for the second time in their conversation. "Aren't you the one who is usually reckless and not so worried about the consequences?"

"Yeah, but I don't want to be reckless when it could be your life at stake." He shoved his hands into his pockets. "I never used to be worried about consequences, but after the war...even if Fred hadn't died, a lot of people I know did. It's hard to be reckless like that now, especially over something this important."

He was sad, and he was worried about her, and she wanted to close the small amount of distance between them to comfort him, but she didn't. It was better if she didn't-she needed to start putting some distance there before either of them got hurt. She needed to focus on the Elite and stopping their plans-whatever they were.

"Thea, I..." But George didn't get a chance to finish as they heard voices downstairs.

"We should go see what they want," said Thea, and she turned and made her way out into the hallway and down the stairs to find that not only was Jax back from the ministry, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione were as well.

Thea looked to Jax, the trio, and then back again. "What's going on?"

Jax shook his head, and before he could say anything, Thea spotted something in his hand-_The Book of the Elite. _

Thea shook her head, her eyes widening in horror. "No." And she spun on her heel, heading back for the stairs where she nearly ran into George, but after she had side stepped him, she headed up to the top floor and headed into the bedroom where she had been staying. "Colloportus," she said, pointing her wand at the door, before sitting down on the bed and just trying to breathe.


	22. Chapter 22: George

George had headed downstairs after Thea, but he had hesitated. He was less concerned with what everyone else wanted than he was with what Thea wanted. He had been about to tell her how he felt about her, and she had just cut him off. Normally, he would have just figured it was circumstances and that she had gotten distracted, but she was a legilimens-which meant that she knew what he was thinking. She had deliberately avoided the conversation, and he didn't know what to make of that.

And then, when he had headed back downstairs, she had passed him, clearly upset, on her way back upstairs. He turned toward everyone else still standing in the hallway. "What's going on?" he asked.

"I need to talk to Thea," said Jax, heading for the stairs.

George didn't move. He stood at the base of the stairs. "I'm not sure that's the best idea," he said softly.

Jax blinked at him. "Excuse me? Do mind telling me why it's a bad idea to go talk to my best friend?"

"Well, for one thing, she just ran out of here away from you," George pointed out. Of course, she had run away from him, too, so there was that. "Plus she just finished telling me how overprotective you are before you got here."

Jax narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

George sighed. "She has a plan to get those passes and break the curse, but she was afraid to say anything, because she didn't think that anyone would take her seriously. She named you in particular. She thinks that you'll try to protect her rather than listening to her and working with her to stop Liam and whoever is behind him."

Jax didn't have anything to say to that, and the other three were shifting uncomfortably hearing that she had said that.

"Maybe we should go in the kitchen," Hermione said softly. "Figure this out. Thea's obviously upset about the book, and someone needs to ask her about it. And then maybe she can tell us about her plan."

George was voted as the best person to talk to Thea since she had already confided in him earlier-although George privately disagreed. He was still bothered by her avoiding a conversation about their feelings for each other, but he wasn't going to bring it up right now-there were more important things to discuss.

When he got upstairs, the door to Thea's room was already open and she and Ginny were already talking. Maybe they should have just sent Ginny instead of him.

He knocked on the doorframe, and both Thea and Ginny looked over.

"I'll be downstairs," Ginny told them and headed out of the room.

Thea looked over at him from her place at the edge of the bed. "Why do I feel like you're the unlucky one who got stuck dealing with me?" She sighed. "I can't tell you anything about that book. Not here."

George set the book down on the dresser. "Then maybe you can tell me why you walked away when I was about to tell you how I felt about you. You read minds, so you had to have known-unless you're going to tell me that you didn't read it then." So much for not asking.

"I knew."

George shook his head. "Great, so you knew. Is there a particular reason why you didn't want me to tell you?"

"I don't know what you want me to tell you." Thea got to her feet. "I have spent the better part of my life alternatively preparing for and running from them." She nodded toward the book. "It's taking everything I have to face them again, and you want to tell me how you feel...talk to me about dating."

"I'm sorry." He felt like an idiot. Of course this was too much for her. How could it not be?

Thea shook her head. "It's okay. You just have really bad timing."

"Can we at least talk about this when this is all over?" George asked her. "We'll table the discussion for now and focus on all of this."

Thea nodded. "Sure."

George took a breath. "Great. Now we actually need to talk about this." He reached for the book.

"I still can't talk about it-not here."

"Okay," said George, "but we need to talk to everyone else about your plan."

"All right," Thea told him, and the two of them started for the steps. George wasn't in any hurry to talk to everyone, nor was he in a hurry to send her off to Elite. He did agree with her though-there might not be another option.


	23. Chapter 23: Thea

NOTE: This is the break between the revised section and the rough draft, so if there are a few inconsistencies, that's why. I will be going back to update further, but for now, I am uploading the less polished version of the story to this forum.

Every step felt like she was walking to an executioner, but it was time. It was time for her to tell the whole story-and it was time for her to face what she had been running from all these years.

She sat down at the table, and Jax and George immediately took a seat on either side of her, like two sentries ready to guard her, though she could tell that neither one really knew how to offer her support. "I guess it's time that I tell all of you the whole story," Thea said softly. "At the end of my third year at Hogwarts, I started to become friends with an older boy in another house. He and I started dating that summer."

"Just so you know, that boy was Liam," Jax pointed out.

Thea looked over at him. "I was about to explain that."

"Wait a minute...you dated Liam?" Ron asked from the other side of George.

Thea sighed. "A long time ago."

When Hermione elbowed him, Ron shrugged. "Well, it explains his obsession with her now."

"Continue," said Harry-he was on Jax's other side.

Thea nodded and braced herself for telling the rest. "Towards the end of summer break, he came to visit me at home," Thea continued. "It was supposed to be just him, but one of his friends showed up with him. One thing led to another, and they killed my parents." She wasn't going to get into the details. It was bad enough she even had to give them an overview, but to go back, truly go back and tell everything? She didn't think she could do it.

"I hope you broke up with him after that," said Ron.

Despite herself, Thea felt a laugh bubbling up in her throat. "Yes, I broke up with him. And I reported him, went to the ministry, and did everything I could to get him and his friend sent to Azkaban. Jax and his parents helped me with that-I actually went to stay with them after my parents' deaths. And then Orrin showed up."

Thea took a breath. "It was Christmas break, and I was staying with Jax and his parents when he showed up with two of his thugs. He pretty much explained how things were going to be-that I would drop the whole matter about my parents, that Liam would get away with all of it, and then they marked me, so they could find me, and if I didn't do as they said, they would have killed Jax and his family."

"That's awful," said Hermione. "I can understand why you did what you did," she said softly.

Thea nodded and then took a breath. "But now I have to go find Orrin."

"What? No," said Jax.

Thea shook her head. "I've been preparing my whole life for this. I have to do this."

"No, you don't," said Jax. "You've dealt with this alone for eight years-you don't have to handle it alone anymore."

"I agree with Jax," said Harry. "This Orrin sounds dangerous, and you going to him would be like walking right into a trap."

In the end, the others agreed, and it was decided that they would protect Thea there, despite Thea's protests.

As everyone began to disperse to get on with their evening, Thea approached George. "You didn't argue with them to keep me here."

George shrugged, putting his hands in the pockets of his robe. "I heard you yesterday. Jax and I were trying to protect you when we should have been listening to you and trying to back you up-not deciding for you how everything was to be handled. You've got an eight-year head start on us on this though, so you need to help us catch up."

Thea nodded. "I can try."

"You've told us what happened and that you need to leave, but you didn't really tell us what you plan to do," George said quietly. "Are you just planning to go on the run? I mean, that's what it sounds like, but I have a hard time believing that. So what's your plan?"

"We don't know what the Elite is planning, but we do know that they want me for some reason," Thea explained. "Why else mark me all those years ago? They're going to come for me either way, so why not use it to our advantage?"

"You're planning to go undercover," said George, raising an eyebrow.

"Sort of," said Thea. "I'm going to give him the scared little girl he's expecting."

"Except you're not a scared little girl anymore."

"Exactly...more or less anyway." When George looked over at her, she shrugged. "I'm still scared. This doesn't change any of that. I'm just a lot more prepared now than I was back then."

"What do you think they're up to?"

"They're trying to reverse death," said Thea. "I thought this was just some zany scheme cooked up by Liam, but it can't be a coincidence." She pulled up her pant leg just enough to show George the runes marked there. "Those symbols stand for immortality. I looked it up."

George studied her face. "There's something else. What aren't you saying?"

Thea bit her lip. "It's just a theory." When he just waited expectantly she sighed. "I just can't help but see similarities to their rhetoric and that of You Know Who's." It wasn't that she was afraid of his name-she wasn't. She was more afraid that the Elite may be using the taboo somehow.

"So what you..." He blinked as he realized what she was inferring. "You think they're trying to bring him back."

Her gaze met his. "I do."

"Well, we have to stop them."

"I know."


	24. Chapter 24: George

George and Thea had their heads together most of the rest of the evening, and the others let them, figuring that they were just getting to know each other. Instead, they were coming up with a plan. "You're sure you can do this?" George asked her.

"As sure as I can be." She bit her lip. "Look, about what you said yesterday...about wanting to get to know me better? If circumstances were different...I'd like that, too."

"Well, that's the thing," said George. "After this is all over, things will be different. Then...you and me?"

Thea smiled at him. "It's a date." They were just leaning towards each other as the others started coming in, having smelled the food-seeing as part of what George and Thea had been doing was preparing dinner. They all sat down to eat, but Thea and George just waited.

It only took a moment before the others fell asleep where they were sitting, and the two of them got up. "Are you sure about this?" Thea asked him.

"You asked me that before. Yes, I'm sure. Besides, you have the hard job," said George.

"They're not going to be happy when they wake up."

"Thea, just go already, before the potion wears off," George told her, a little exasperated.

"Thank you for trusting me." And she leaned in and kissed him briefly on the lips, before grabbing her bag and heading out the door.

A few minutes later, the others started to wake up. Hermione looked around and saw that the only one up was George. "George, what's going on?"

"Thea's gone," Jax said with a groan. "Why? I thought we had decided that she was safest here."

"All of you decided...without regarding Thea's feelings on the matter," said George. "Didn't you listen to her yesterday? She didn't come to us for protection-she came to us for help. Well, I helped her."

"Yeah, you helped her run right back to the Elite," Jax scoffed.

Harry shook his head at Jax, before turning back to George. "What does she have planned?"

"She's trying to figure out how the Elite is planning to reverse death and how to stop them. She can't do that hidden away here," said George. "That rune makes it easy for them to track her, meaning that they would have come here for all of us. If we lost and given that we don't fully know what we're up against that's a pretty safe bet, we wouldn't be able to help her."

"Well, how does she know that's what the Elite is after?" Ron asked. "I mean, yeah, Liam and the Unspeakables were working on it, but wouldn't it be logical that the Elite has some endgame in mind that we don't know about?"

Hermione looked over at Ron, impressed. "You're right."

"See I'm right some of the time," said Ron.

"She thinks they're trying to bring You Know Who back," George said quietly. "And I think she's right."

"Why didn't she tell us any of this?" Harry asked.

"We didn't exactly give her the opportunity," said Hermione. "We were so focused on how we were going to keep her safe that we forgot how capable she is."

"Does she have a plan as far as getting into contact with us?" Harry asked.

"I think I can answer that," Jax spoke up. "When we were at Hogwarts we had a way of communicating with each other." He started rummaging around for a bit of parchment. Ginny found some in a drawer, along with a quill and ink and handed them to him. Jax scribbled a quick note and addressed it to Harry, before saying a quick incantation. The note vanished and reappeared in front of Harry, but Jax shook his head. "Ron, try to open it."

Ron shrugged and reached for the note before he could really grasp it, it blew up in his face in a tiny explosion.

"That is clever," said Hermione. "I take it that Thea wrote that spell herself?"

Jax nodded. "She did."

"So what are we supposed to do in the meantime?" Ron asked.

"Oh," said George, reaching into his pocket for a bit of parchment. "She gave me this." He handed it to Jax.

Jax looked a little puzzled but opened it. "Did you read this?" He asked quietly.

George shook his head. "No, but she told me the gist of it."

Jax sighed and handed the letter to Harry. "She wants us to go on the record-or rather, you and Ron."

Harry read through the letter and nodded. "We have a lot of work to do."


	25. Chapter 25: Thea

Thea went home. The Aurors had come and gone, and she would much rather Orrin find her there. She had just gotten started cleaning up her apartment after the Aurors' apparent search, when Orrin and two others showed up. Thea looked over at them, resigned as to what was going to happen. "I was waiting for you," she said simply.

"Yes, you would have figured out that we were coming." Orrin offered her what most would consider a charming smile. Thea just felt sick. He offered her his arm. "Shall we?"

Thea looked over at him, confused. "You're not planning to take my wand?"

"Of course not," said Orrin. "You're one of us now."

Hesitantly, Thea took his arm, and they disapparated.

They reappeared in front of an old house. "Welcome to the home of the Elite," said Orrin, and they led Thea inside. "Nott will be assigned to you," Orrin explained, gesturing to one of the wizards that had come with him to find Thea. "Let him know if you need anything." And then Orrin showed her to a room. "This will be your room for the duration of your stay."

Thea didn't go in. "Why exactly am I here?"

"You want to get right to work then I see," said Orrin.

"Work?"

"Come with me," said Orrin, leading the way downstairs.

They were in a finished basement, set up very much like the Department of Mysteries. Then she understood. "No. I won't help you bring him back."

Orrin raised an eyebrow. "You really did do the thing properly, didn't you?" He shrugged. "I don't expect you to bring him back. I just expect you to figure out how it's done. I know you won't do it for me-but you won't be able to resist. You've never been able to resist learning something new when the opportunity presents itself."

Thea looked over at him, non-plussed.

"The physics books?" Orrin was all but smirking. "Did you really think they showed up at Hogwarts for no reason? Once we knew you were the one who could succeed, I made sure you had what you needed to make that happen-just like I made sure you would end up at Cambridge."

Thea shook her head. "But how..." Her eyes widened. "You killed his parents, too." She had always thought that Jax's parents had been killed as a result of the war, but apparently, Orrin's crimes went deeper than she had realized.

"It sent the two of you running off into the muggle world, and I knew you couldn't resist the opportunity to learn more," Orrin explained. "We moulded you, made you into what we needed, and now you've come to us. I think I will leave you down here for a while to consider your options-you'll find every magic and physics book you could want. Do you honestly think you'll be able to resist?" With that, he headed upstairs, leaving Thea alone down in the basement.


	26. Chapter 26: Jax

Meanwhile, Jax had gone back to the ministry. While he had given money to Liam the day before, he decided that he had more questions about his money was being spent-naturally, he hadn't given the entire amount then either.

Liam made him wait longer than the day before. After nearly an hour's wait, Flint came up for him. "You have more money for us I take it?" he asked, though he looked annoyed to have to deal with him.

"I do," said Jax, "but I have questions first. Liam never really explained how he planned to reverse the dais or what my money was going towards.

Flint shook his head. "You can't talk about that up here!"

"Well, why not?" Jax asked. "Is this project not above board or something?"

"Come with me," said Flint, once again leading him down into the Department of Mysteries.

Liam looked over at Flint and Jax, annoyed. He had been looking at a history book. "I thought you were going to handle it?"

"He has questions," said Flint. "And I thought it best to bring him down here to avoid attention."

"I fail to see the issue with my asking questions upstairs," said Jax. "I am a very busy man. That is unless you have something to hide?"

Liam sighed. "Yes and no. The very nature of an unspeakable means that we must be cautious. What we do here is intended to be a secret, however it is with the knowledge and permission of the Minister for Magic of course."

"Of course," said Jax. "I just wanted to get an idea as to what my money was paying for, that's all."

Liam nodded. "As you can imagine, this project takes more funds than most. Our contractor..."

"Contractor?" Jax latched onto that as an opportunity. He was fairly certain as to who their 'contractor' was.

"Well, yes, we contract with different agencies," said Liam, vaguely.

"Like which agencies?" Jax asked.

"Just varied vested interests," said Liam.

"Like?" When Liam didn't answer, Jax shook his head. "Can you at least tell me who has a vested interest in this project?"

Liam sighed. "I can reach out and see if someone is willing to talk to you."

"Make sure that you do," said Jax, "because without a conversation, I'm not willing to give any more money."

Liam nodded. "We'll be in touch."

"You do that," said Jax, heading for the exit, with Flint scrambling to keep up, knowing that he would need to escort Jax out.


	27. Chapter 27: Thea

Orrin knew a lot about Thea-even Thea had to admit that. He had made a point in observing her, watching her, getting to know her from a distance, so he knew how she would respond in different situations. He knew that if he locked her in the basement with a bunch of books that she would read them. He knew that if he dangled notes about reversing the dais under her nose, that she would examine them, look for mistakes, and ultimately figure out how to do what they needed to be done.

Locked in the basement alone with nothing to do but read, Thea found herself pouring over the books, the notes, everything that Orrin had provided, and she was beginning to get a picture-a very clear picture-as to how it could be done. That's when she heard voices from upstairs.

Thea crept up the stairs to listen in.

"You still didn't need to come here, Liam," Orrin said calmly. "An owl would have been sufficient."

"He was pretty insistent," Liam pushed.

"You can't handle one treasure hunter?" Orrin pushed back. It seemed that Jax had done as she had asked.

"What am I supposed to tell him?" Liam asked. "He wants to meet the man in charge."

"And where exactly am I supposed to meet him?" Orrin spat out. "I can't very well go to the ministry, now can I? And he's not coming here. How much money is he offering?"

"A fair amount," said Liam. "But aside from what he gave us yesterday, he won't give us a sickle more unless he meets you."

"You should have told him you were in charge of the experiments," said Orrin. "Now I have to clean up your mess. Tell Jax that we will meet him at his place of residence at precisely 9 AM tomorrow. If he wants to meet me, he will be there. There will be no second chances. And if you show up here again uninvited, you will not have any further chances either. I no longer need you as I have the one the prophecy refers to."

"You have Thea?" Liam asked.

"That's right. I had forgotten that you were assigned to her," said Orrin. "Yes, she's here. I don't think it will take her long to figure out what you failed to do, do you?"

"Um...uh, no, sir."

"Well, you'd better reach out to this Jax, so I don't end up wasting my time tomorrow," said Orrin, dismissing him.

"Oh...yes, sir! Right away, sir!" Thea heard the crack as Liam disapparated.

Thea heard footsteps coming towards the basement door, and she backed away. The door swung open. "Thea!"

Thea started back up the stairs. "You called?"

"Have you figured it out yet?" Orrin asked her.

"In one day?" Except for the fact that she had.

Orrin stepped onto the stairs, closing the door behind him and gripped Thea's arm, maneuvering her down the stairs. "See that's the thing," he said releasing her. "I think you have figured it out."

Thea took a step back. "I told you before, even if I managed to figure it out, I'll never help you."

Orrin sighed. "I had expected more from you, Thea, honestly. Have you forgotten that I'm a legilimens?" He reached into her mind to find the answers he sought...but he was met with a wall. He raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps I spoke too soon."

He pulled out his wand and cast a non-verbal spell, but Thea was ready for him and blocked him. "Impressive."

"You haven't seen anything yet," said Thea.

"We'll see," said Orrin. They began throwing spells at each other left and right. They were too evenly matched to make much progress...that is until Nott came down to see what was going on. He joined the fray.

Thea managed to stun him, but that left her open to attack from Orrin. He disarmed her.

"Now," said Orrin, walking towards her. "You will give me the formula. It's just a matter of how much it's going to hurt."

"I'd rather die," Thea told him, and she meant it. She didn't really want to die, but if her dying would stop Voldemort from coming back, then so be it.

"Oh, I'm not going to kill you," said Orrin. "I'm just going to make you suffer. Crucio!" He turned to Nott. "Gather the others. She's strong, but even the strong eventually break."


	28. Chapter 28: George

George headed back to Grimmauld Place right after work. In fact, he had wanted to go sooner and had been ticking down the minutes before he could close his shop. He was hoping that either Jax or Harry or somebody would have some news about Thea.

As soon as George was able to lock up the store, he disapparated, reappearing on the front step. He headed in to find that Ginny was the only one there.

"Have you heard anything?" he asked her anxiously, but she shook her head.

"Not about Thea," she said. "Jax went in and gave Liam a hard time, but that's all I know."

"We can't just sit here!" said George, and Ginny offered him a small, sympathetic smile.

"Now you know how I always feel," she said. "I'm the one who's always left behind. I think she'll be okay," Ginny told him. "Jax was telling me about her...she's spent most of her life preparing for this." She paused again. "And I can see why you like her. She's nice, and she gets you. You deserve someone who gets you."

"I asked to get to know her better after this is all over," George said softly, "and she's agreed."

Ginny smiled at that. "Good. She's good for you."

"You didn't like any of the other girls I've dated?" George joked.

Ginny shrugged. "You mean the few there were before the war? They were nice, but they didn't understand you the way Thea seems to. And she makes you smile. I haven't seen you smile since Fred died."

Normally, even just hearing his name was like having a fist clamp down on his heart, but it was as if something had eased. It still made him sad that his brother was gone, but for the first time, he was beginning to see what life could look like without him. "Yeah," he said softly. "I'm sorry I've been so difficult lately."

Ginny nodded. "You have been difficult," she poked fun at him, before becoming serious again. "But you were grieving. I'm just glad to see that you're starting to be a little more yourself again."

Before George had a chance to say anything else to that, the others arrived. George jumped up from his seat, anxious to see if they had any news.

Jax knew as soon as he saw George's face, and he shook his head. "I haven't heard from Thea. I have, however, heard from Liam. He sent me an owl just a little bit ago-I've got a meeting set with Liam and the Head of the Elite tomorrow morning."

"I'm going with you," said George.

Jax raised an eyebrow. "You can't. We're not supposed to know each other, remember?"

"What if I go invisible?"

Jax shook his head, and George could even hear the desperation in his own voice. "I'm worried about her, too," Jax said softly. "But if we reach out to her, we could jeopardize her cover. We need to wait for her to contact us."


	29. Chapter 29: Thea

Thea wasn't really in any position to reach out to anyone. She didn't know how long Orrin tortured her. It could have been hours; it could have been days. He didn't even bother to ask her for the formula...he just wailed on her, curse after curse, and occasionally with his fists. Then it all stopped.

Orrin wiped off his hands and approached her. "Now then," he said softly, his voice seeming more distant than it was-Thea was pretty sure she had a concussion after all of this. "Now I will have the formula." Orrin reached into her mind, and though Thea tried to put the wall back up, she had been weakened too much by the hours of torture to fight him.

"So simple," Orrin whispered. "So elegant. You will make history, my dear. Fear not, I will be sure that everyone knows your name and that you were the one responsible for bringing the Dark Lord back."

Thea groaned, all but whimpering as Nott came back down. "They should be arriving any minute. Do you have the formula?"

"I do," said Orrin and began giving instructions for Nott to set up as the others began to apparate in.

Thea struggled to think clearly through the pain, to focus on what was happening. She had to stop them, somehow, but there didn't seem to be a way to do that. She had to get her wand back, first and foremost. Without it, she could do nothing.

She knew the odds were against her, but she started looking for her wand, spotting it just a few feet from her. She glanced over at the Elite members, but they were too focused on getting set up, on getting ready to cast the spell that would reverse the dais, to notice anything Thea was doing.

Carefully, she pulled herself across the floor, having to bite her tongue to keep from screaming from the pain. She couldn't let them hear her. It took her several moments to get close enough to reach her wand. By that point, the Elite were already chanting, and it was too late for her to stop them. But maybe she could change who they brought back.

Using a non-verbal summoning spell she summoned the mortar, pestle, cauldron, and potion ingredients she needed, keeping a close eye on the chanting wizards. They were focused on the spell. Hurrying, Thea mixed the ingredients she needed, before writing a name on a bit of parchment and adding it to the potion. Then she put the mix into a vial, disillusioned it, and sent it flying towards the dais. The bottle smashed against the dais, and the dais began to smoke.

Orrin looked her way. "Keep chanting," he told them, though he was worried about what Thea had done.

After a moment, a figure stepped out of the dais, but it wasn't Voldemort: it was Fred Weasley.


	30. Chapter 30: Thea Again

Members of the Elite started screaming, and spells started to fly everywhere as Orrin moved across the room towards Thea in furious strides. Thea disapparated and appeared next to the dais and Fred. She offered her hand. "Come on," she told him.

She could tell that Fred was confused, but at the moment, it was clear to him that she was the only friend he had in this situation. He took her hand, and she disapparated again, bringing them back behind the dais. She sent a powerful spell of her own design at the dais and then apparated both herself and Fred outside before doubling over. There was an explosion in the background as Thea's spell hit its mark.

"Not to be difficult," said Fred, "because I'm grateful and all, but where are we, who are you, and what the bloody hell is going on?"

Thea shook her head. "I'm Thea, but there's no time to explain everything. We have to get back to the old headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix. We need help."

"Fred," he told her, not realizing that she already knew. "I know you have no reason to trust me, but if you give me your wand, I can get us back to headquarters."

Thea shook her head. "I do trust you-I'm working with your brothers, but my wand doesn't work for anyone but me, not even allies. It's temperamental-always has been. My best friend at Hogwarts tried to borrow it in potions class, and nearly blew up his cauldron."

"That could just be him," Fred pointed out, though that didn't sound good.

Thea shook her head. "No. If he had been using his own wand, the spell would have been cast perfectly. Just give me a second."

Fred shook his head. "Here, let me help you. If you're worried about disapparating, maybe we can take muggle transport, although I'm not really familiar, and I don't have muggle money."

"I do," said Thea, and he began leading her out of the open, so they could try to get away.


	31. Chapter 31: George

The others played exploding snap to bide their time before everyone headed up to bed. George couldn't focus on the game, and when it came time to go to bed, he couldn't sleep. He headed down to the kitchen to make a snack, when he heard some clanging at the door and suddenly Mrs. Black's portrait starting shrieking.

George sighed. "Ron, did you set off that bloody portrait again?" he called as he headed out to the entryway, turning on the light as he did, and then just stood there stunned. It wasn't Ron in the entryway, but Thea and Fred.

For a moment, George could only stare, stunned, even as the others came rushing down. Absently, he caught someone stunning the portrait-Hermione he thought-and Jax making his way over to Thea. Thea.

Finally, he looked over at her, about to ask how this was possible, but that's when he realized she was hurt.

He moved to help her, but Jax had already reacted, reaching out to scoop her up in his arms-that was until Thea protested. "Let's get her upstairs."

"No, we have to get to the ministry," said Thea.

Jax let her stand, but he didn't let go of her. "You're not going anywhere," he said gently. George was inclined to agree, but Thea was logical-she had to know she was in no shape to go to the ministry, so there had to be a reason she was pushing it.

"You don't understand." Thea's gaze was focused on Jax. "They know how to bring him back. If we don't destroy the dais, they'll do it," Thea told him.

"Then we'll go," said Jax, but Thea was shaking her head.

"You can't get into the Department of Mysteries without me."

"Hermione, can you do anything for her?" George asked, because if she was right-and he was willing to bet she was-they needed to leave now.

"Not really," said Hermione. "I'm not a healer. I mean, if we were talking about cuts...open wounds, essence of dittany would take care of it, but..."

"I can make a potion that will help," said Thea. "At least until we handle this, but we're going to need help-we're outnumbered."

"I'll reach out to the DA," said Hermione, wisking out of the room as Jax helped Thea to the kitchen to work on a potion.

"So is anyone going to explain to me what's going on?" Fred spoke up in the midst of all this, returning George's attention to him.

"Yeah, sorry about that," George told him. "To make a long story short, there's this group of dark wizards called the Elite, who are trying to bring back You-Know-Who. If we don't get to the ministry, into the Department of Mysteries and destroy the dais there, they will bring him back, and it will basically be war all over again."

"Yeah, that really was the short version, wasn't it?" Fred asked. "So, I, uh, I need a wand if I'm going to help."

"Yeah," said George. "It's at the shop. We can go get it if you'd like."

"Just make sure you're quick," Harry warned them. "We can't afford to wait."

"We will be," said George. "Ready, Fred?"

"Ready, George," he said with a grin, and the pair disapparated, reappearing in the closed shop.

"Sheesh, what did you do to the place?" Fred asked.

"Uh, yeah," said George. "I sort of had a rough time while you were gone." He retrieved the wand. "There you go."

"So I'm still missing a few details," said Fred. "For starters-the girl who brought me back to headquarters-who is she?"

George nodded. "That's Thea. She is...was I guess now, an unspeakable. It's really thanks to her that we know about any of this. The Department of Mysteries is basically working for the Elite."

"And what's going on between her and you?" Fred asked. "I saw the way you reacted when you saw that she was hurt. Are you harboring some sort of crush? Unrequited? And for that matter, who was the other guy who was hovering over her?"

"That would be Jax," George explained. "His parents took her in after her parents were killed in fourth year. They're close, but nothing romantic there."

"Uh, huh," said Fred. "What does that mean for you?"

George shrugged. "It means that she and I plan to get to know each other better after this is all over. Now let's get back to headquarters before they leave without us."


	32. Chapter 32: Thea

Jax had helped Thea to the kitchen where she got to work on the potion. "So what does this potion do?" he asked her.

"It will help kick start some healing," said Thea, "but mostly it will just help with the pain until this is over, and I can receive real medical attention." That was assuming that she survived this final battle-she had no delusions that this could be the end for her. Going into a battle after having been tortured for hours was generally not a good idea.

"No-don't go thinking like that."

Thea raised an eyebrow. "Reading my mind now?"

"No, but I know you, and I know that look. You don't think you're going to survive this."

Thea shook her head. "I don't know anything other than that we need to do whatever it takes to destroy that dais. I'm already injured, and Orrin will target me. My odds of surviving that at this point are slim. I don't have a death wish, and I'd rather live than die," she told him. "But I hold no delusions that I am unstoppable. I'm just being realistic."

"Well, stop it!" said Jax.

"Stop what?" George asked, returning with Fred.

Jax shook his head. "Maybe you can talk some sense into her." And he headed out of the room.

"What does Jax want me to talk you into some sense about?" George asked Thea.

Thea shook her head. "Nothing. We should get ready to head out."

George grabbed her arm to stop her from leaving the room. "You know we're going to have to have a conversation after this is all over."

Thea chuckled at that. "Don't we always?"

George laughed along with her. "Yeah, that seems to be our mantra."

Fred cleared his throat.

Both Thea and George turned toward him. "Yeah, sorry," said George. "Fred, this is Thea Walker, former unspeakable, and Thea, I know you've technically met him already, but this is Fred."

"It's nice to meet you," said Thea.

"Likewise," said Fred, bending forward in a bow, before rising again. "Any friend of Georgie's is a friend of mine," he told her, just as Harry came into the room.

"We're heading out," he told them, his gaze falling on Thea. "You doing all right?"

"Well enough as I can be," she told him. "Let's go."

They disapparated and reappeared outside the ministry, while a few others appeared. Thea recognized two of them as Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood. The only problem was that some of the Elite were waiting for them outside.

"We've got this," Ginny told them, joining Neville and Luna and gesturing for the others to go ahead. They were outnumbered two to one, but there were likely to be more of the Elite waiting for them inside.

The rest of them went in. As predicted, more of the elite were there. "We'll handle this," Hermione told Thea, referring to herself and the twins. "Just get to the dais."

So Thea led Jax and Harry down to the Department of Mysteries, where Orrin and a group of the Elite were waiting. "Thea, so good of you to join us," said Orrin. "You see, we've been expecting you."

Thea stepped forward. "Well, then let's get on with it."

Jax grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?"

"Buying time," she whispered back.

Orrin sighed. "Thea, you know you can't take me."

"That's not what you were saying earlier," Thea pointed out.

Orrin narrowed his eyes. "Maybe, but that was then. You're all used up, Thea. You don't have any fight left."

"And yet, you don't make any moves to attack me," said Thea. "Why is that?"

Orrin turned sharply to the Elite to his left, who were edging toward Thea and the others. "Do nothing. She's merely trying to distract me. Guard the dais. I'll handle her."

Thea sent a stun spell at him, not really expecting to hit her mark. Orrin blocked it, and then they began dueling in earnest.


	33. Chapter 33: George

George didn't like that Thea had had to go ahead with the others, not when she was hurt. Instead, he fought back to back with his brothers and with Hermione. They were outnumbered, as Ginny, Neville, and Luna had been, but they were managing-barely. And then, as if they knew what he had been thinking, Ginny and other members of the DA came rushing in. "They're almost contained upstairs," Ginny told them. "Neville and Luna have got it-plus with a few more of our friends." Apparently, their friends had just arrived late.

"Go, we've got this," Ron motioned George, Fred, Hermione, and some of the DA on to head down to the Department of Mysteries.

When they got down there to the main room, Thea was dueling Orrin, but there was little else going on. "What is she doing?" George asked Jax.

"Buying time until you got here," Jax explained. "We need to get to the dais."

George nodded. "Is she okay?"

Jax didn't answer immediately.

"Jax, is she okay?"

"She's doing what she needs to do," Jax told him. "And we need to do what we need to do."

"To hell with that," said George. "You get the dais. I'm going to help her."

Before Jax could argue, George took off toward where Thea and Orrin were battling. He was glad he did, too, because Thea was struggling. Her movements were a little slower than he was used to seeing them, and he could see how she gritted her teeth against the pain. George just barely managed to pull her away from a flying curse.

"George? What are you doing down here? I thought you were upstairs?"

"I was," he told her. "But reinforcements came. You really didn't think I would stay up there when the real action was down here?" Really, he hadn't wanted to let her face Orrin alone.

"But..."

"And Jax has got the dais," George told her. "Now let's finish Orrin off and get out of here."

Another curse went flying their way, and George deflected it. "Come on," he told her. "I can't do this without you."

George was good, but the fact of the matter was that Orrin was just better. Even if he wasn't, this was Thea's fight.

Soon curses were flying in both directions, though George kept a close eye on Thea. They needed to finish this battle quickly, before her potion wore off completely. Finally, Thea managed to get a stun spell in, and it hit its mark.

"Incarcerous," George said quietly, pointing his wand at the now unconscious Orrin. He didn't want to take any chances of him getting away. Then he turned to focus on Thea beside him. She was bent over gripping her side, and her skin was as pale, paler than he was used to seeing it. Gently he put arm behind her back and under her arms to help support her. He glanced over his shoulder at Jax, who was making progress toward the dais. George jerked his head toward Orrin, and Jax nodded. George started leading Thea out.

"No," she said softly. "We have to destroy the dais, and I'm the only one who can lead them out."

"Well, we're getting out of the way of fire," he told her. "And no arguments."

Thea didn't argue, and he helped her move off to the side. "So how do you want to destroy it?" he asked, glancing over at the dais. Jax was being blocked, but George and Thea now had a clear path.

"There's a spell," she told him.

"One of your own invention I'm guessing?"

Thea nodded.

"Do you have enough left in you to cast the spell?" he asked her. She looked pretty beat. He didn't want her to cast it and then collapse, because it took too much out of her.

Thea hesitated, and he had his answer. "Does Jax know the spell?"

Thea nodded again.

"All right then. Stay here," George told her, and he headed over to where Jax was fighting. "Go help Thea," George told him. "I've got this."

"I thought you were helping her," said Jax as the pair fought back to back.

"I was, but she needs you for this one," said George, focusing on the battle as Jax made his way over to Thea.


	34. Chapter 34: George Again

It didn't take long for Thea to fill Jax in, and soon they were all running to try to avoid the blast that would be coming, many of them disapparating as soon as they made their way out of the Department of Mysteries. They would all be meeting up at the Order of the Phoenix headquarters.

Over the coming hours, things seemed to settle down, although a few things became clear. First, Orrin had escaped. One of his followers had apparently gotten him up and out of the ministry. While some of the Elite had been captured, just as many had escaped, which meant that Thea could not go back to work. Jax had stopped at her apartment, briefly, and had found threats painted on her walls.

One of the order did turn out to be somewhat familiar with healing, and aside from doing a little spell work to repair some broken ribs, they determined that Thea just needed to rest to heal from her ordeal at the Elite headquarters.

After giving her a few days to rest and recover, George went to her, looking for answers. At this point in time, Thea was mostly willing to give them.

"Okay, so Fred is back, because you figured out how to reverse the dais, Orrin stole the information after torturing you and tried to bring You Know Who back, so you switched who would be brought back by the spell?" George asked.

Thea nodded. "Yes, that's essentially it," she told him.

"So why Fred?" he asked her. "You've lost people, too-you could have brought back one of your parents or Jax's parents, but instead, you brought my brother back."

Thea bit her lip. "To be honest, he was the first person I thought of, and yes I could have brought back one of my parents or one of Jax's parents, but they're together wherever they are. If I had brought one back, I would have been separating them, and I know that's not what they would want."

George nodded. "Well, whatever your reasoning, thank you." For a moment, they sat in a silence that was both comforting and awkward, and then George spoke again. "So you're off to Cambridge...both you and Fred?"

"Well, the Elite is after us both, and I need to know more about what I just did," Thea explained. "I figured out the way to bring someone back, but I didn't have time to examine all the repercussions of bringing him back. Death is supposed to be final, and for all I know, I've torn a hole in the fabric of reality by bringing him back."

"And if it has...you'll just send him back?" George asked, not liking this at all.

"Only if I have to," said Thea. "Mostly, I just want to make sure I can repair the damage...if there is any."

George wanted to ask if he could go with them...he had only just gotten his brother back, and now it felt like he needed to give him up, and he had only just found Thea, who he had been interested in, but now things were complicated. She had brought his brother back to life, and she may have to send him back somehow if bringing him here in the first place had poked a hole in reality, and on top of that, she and Fred were heading off to Cambridge in a few days, so she could figure that out. And what if, after spending time with Fred, she decided that she liked Fred better than him?

Thea leaned in to kiss him briefly before pulling back. "Send me owls," she told him softly, "and you can come visit, but you know that you have to stay in London-between your store and helping Harry and Ron with their investigation, but that doesn't mean that I've forgotten our agreement or even that I want to forget our agreement. I meant what I said, and I still do. I want to get to know you. I'm interested in you, not your brother. My interest in your brother is purely scientific."

George leaned in to kiss her again, not like the brief kisses she had given him when she had kissed him, but he took his time, wrapping an arm around her and tangling his other hand in her hair. It may have been silly, but he wanted her to remember this when she was in Cambridge with his brother. It wasn't that he thought she was lying-he didn't. But he and Fred had always been very alike, and after Fred had died, George had gotten darker, less cheerful, while Fred (if the last few days were any indication) was very much the same as before. He had always been louder, more outspoken and boisterous, and George was afraid that when push came to shove, Thea would prefer his brother's more flamboyant personality.

"You know, I've never been a fan of flashy," Thea said quietly after he had released her. He still had his arm around her, but he wasn't looking at her; he was lost in his own thoughts. He looked over at her now though that she spoke.

"I've always been more attracted to quiet, more serious types," she said softly. "So stop worrying."

George wasn't sure he could stop worrying entirely, but for now, he was reassured. Together, they sat in silence until it was time for one last dinner at Grimmauld Place with the entire group before they split off to go their separate ways. For the moment, George was content.


	35. Unspeakables II: Science & Magic: Ch 1

_Cambridge, England._

Thea sat with her legs folded under her, her black pants standing out against the white bedspread on her bed. The room was decorated in simple earth tones-tan bed frame, hardwood floors, brown and white curtains, and tan furniture including a nightstand and dresser. These were all offset by the white bedspread, white lamps, and a white shag carpet under the bed. Grey was mixed in as well, with the addition of grey pillows and blue-grey walls.

She was going over data for the latest tests she had run regarding light. Although she had found a few minor irregularities, everything was looking relatively normal. The lights flickered. Not again.

Thea clicked to save her report and then shut down her laptop, and for good measure, unplugged it, before heading out of her room and down the hall. She pounded on the door to the other bedroom. "Fred!"

After a moment, the door opened, and Thea was treated to the blinding orange walls and curtains, and the ugliest painting she had ever seen over his bed. Tearing her eyes away from the black and white still (the drabbest item in the room apparently), she focused on her roommate. "Please don't use magic. I can't afford to replace another computer. I just can't." She had made the mistake of buying a relatively expensive computer when they had first arrived at Cambridge three months earlier, and within a week, Fred had cast a spell in its vicinity, blowing it up.

Thea had replaced that laptop with a much cheaper Chromebook, which had lasted a few weeks before Fred had accidentally blown that one up. He had just blown the latest one up yesterday, forcing her to replace it yet again.

"Well, then what am I supposed to do?" Fred was pacing around the room like some sort of wild cat-a tiger or perhaps a lion-in a cage. "You may be accustomed to living like a muggle," he said turning to face her, "but I'm not. What did you bring me back for if you weren't even going to let me use magic?"

Muggles were non-magical humans, and at times like these, Fred reminded Thea of a petulant child. She sighed as her phone buzzed in her pocket. She checked it, before turning back to Fred. "Look, I have to go. Ben has something for me, but we'll go out tonight...to one of the college parties here. It's still no magic, but it will be something to do. Just...watch some television or something while I'm gone."

"But there's nothing good on to watch," Fred whined, and Thea had to force herself not to roll her eyes.

"It's only for a few hours. Then I'll be back, and we'll go out," she promised. Thea hurried out before there was further argument and walked the short distance to the science building on campus.

The building had a modern feel-using steel furnishings rather than brick or wood. She knew the inside to be just as advanced as the outside. She made her way down a full hallway to the physics lab. The lab itself was a hodge-podge of equipment and looked a lot more disorderly than it really was. Computers, complex pulleys and other equipment filled the large space making it seem smaller.

Hunched over one of the computers was Dr Benjamin Cooper. His stooped figure tapped the keys of the computer as his brown hair fell into his eyes. He brushed it aside absent-mindedly as he focused intently on the data in front of him.

It was clear he hadn't noticed Thea come in.

Thea cleared her throat.

Ben started, blinking for a moment to focus on Thea. "Oh, Thea. I didn't hear you come in."

"I know," said Thea, stepping forward. "You seemed pretty engrossed in what you were doing."

"I was just going through some data from the atomic reactor," Ben told her apologetically, before straightening his glasses.

Thea waited patiently.

"Oh, I got in touch with my friend, Dr Graham." His cheeks went pink as he said it. "She said she would be happy to take the blood samples you need and to help analyze them."

"That's great," said Thea. "I appreciate it. It will probably take a few days for me to get everything set up. How soon would she be available?"

"She can work with you," said Ben. "Just let me know when you're ready, and I'll let her know."

Thea nodded. "You could have just told me this over the phone, you know."

Ben's cheeks turned pink. "Yes, well, um...I had just wanted to ask for your advice on something."

Thea pretended to look at some of the equipment so he wouldn't see the expression on her face. She knew what he was going to ask-advantage-or drawback in some cases-of being able to read minds.

"Well, Ophelia, Dr Graham that is, she asked me to move in with her."

"Oh?" Thea asked, trying to keep her tone neutral.

Ben shoved his hands in his pockets. "Well, it's just that we haven't been dating all that long..."

"You've been dating for nearly a year," Thea reminded him. "I remember because you wrote me last year about how nervous you were about asking her out in the first place."

Thea waited for Ben to respond to that, but he just stood there awkwardly. Thea sighed. "Look, either you love her or you don't. She's making it clear to you that she wants a commitment, and if you're not ready to make a commitment to her, then you should let her go. But if you're just scared...if you know you love her, and you want to get closer to her, start heading toward marriage, then face your fears and say yes, because at some point, you're probably going to need to move forward. Women rarely will wait forever, even if they're with the right guy."

Ben was quiet for a long moment. "I do love her."

"Then it should be an easy decision-it's just getting through the fear-that's the hard part." And boy was it the hard part. While Thea wasn't in exactly the same situation as Ben was, even taking the first steps towards a relationship with someone when you had been hurt before was hard.

"And how are things with you and George?"

And there was the elephant in the room so to speak. After Liam and the other Unspeakables had been arrested, they had vowed to get to know one another better, see if they wanted to develop a relationship, but it was hard to do that when he was in London, and she was in Cambridge. She turned to face Ben. "I don't know that there is a George and me, to be honest. With the way we left things...long-distance relationships are tough," she settled on.

"Do you love him?" Ben asked, clearly not as nervous to talk about her love life as he was about his own.

Thea shook her head. "I'm still getting to know him."

"By letters?"

"He doesn't have a personal email address," she reminded him. Of course, George didn't have any email addresses since anything magical made computers-and all other electronics-go haywire, but Ben didn't know that. Ben couldn't know that, because if she told a muggle about magic, she would be violating wizarding law. "He's not big on modern technology on a personal level, and I don't want to bother him at work, so letters it is."

Ben just shook his head. "You should invite him up here to visit. I'd like to meet him."

"You'll get to," said Thea. "He's my control subject for the DNA experiment."

"Isn't that a bit unprofessional mixing work with pleasure?" Ben teased her. She could see the twinkle in his eye because he thought it was amusing.

"You have no idea," Thea told him. He really didn't. It didn't get much more personal than dating the brother of the man you managed to bring back from the dead. But again, it's not as if Thea could explain any of that to Ben.

Before Ben could think of another question to ask-or a further way to tease Thea, students began to trickle into the laboratory. "I should get going," Thea told him. "I know you've got a class." Ben waved her off, and Thea headed back to Fred, hoping that he hadn't blown up the house in the time that she had been gone.


	36. Author's Note

Hi, everyone, thanks for reading my book! It's currently just a rough draft right now, but I am doing a major rewrite. Once it's complete, I will begin updating on here, but in the meantime, I hope you enjoyed the teaser of the first chapter of the second book. More chapters will soon be available here.


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